


Heart Is Where The Home Is

by witblogi



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Love it or List it, Dogs, F/M, Fluff, Hand Jobs, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-25 19:39:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17731388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witblogi/pseuds/witblogi
Summary: Professional hockey player Evgeni Malkin, bought his house in Sewickley, Pennsylvania seven years ago. After living with a teammate and friend for two years he was ready to stretch his wings and try living solo. The 1930s colonial style six bedroom home he bought was exactly what he thought he needed, with plenty of room for international friends and family to stay with him. Evgeni’s busy schedule has kept him from attending to his property, leaving many of the original cumbersome fixtures in the house. Can Sid turn his existing house into the family home he’s always wanted? Or will Anna find him something more suited to his luxurious tastes.AKA: A Love It Or List It AU





	Heart Is Where The Home Is

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CloudCover (RainyForecast)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainyForecast/gifts).



> CloudCover I hope you like this weird mess! 
> 
> This is an ode to Geno's ugly house.

 

 

 

**NARRATOR [V.O.]  
**Professional hockey player Evgeni Malkin, bought his house in Sewickley, Pennsylvania seven years ago. After living with a teammate and friend for two years he was ready to stretch his wings and try living solo. The 1930s colonial style six-bedroom home he bought was exactly what he thought he needed, with plenty of room for international friends and family to stay with him.

 

**EVGENI [standing on his front lawn, a sprawling & historic red brick home, framed over his left shoulder out of focus]  
**Is half way from arena, half from practice rink. Lot of space, good neighbour but bought from old lady. Still lots things for old person, make life for me little bit annoy. Hoped would have family do this for but still alone, never have time.

 

**NARRATOR [V.O.]  
**Evgeni’s busy schedule has kept him from attending to his property, leaving many of the original cumbersome fixtures in the house. Can Sid turn his existing house into the family home he’s always wanted? Or will Anna find him something more suited to his luxurious tastes.

—

The Penguins organization had approached him about the project after he’d finished press on locker clean out day. He felt about as empty as his stall after their disastrous second round exit. Swept by the Devils, a hurt that was still stinging, he let their words wash over him, feeling blank.

That was probably why he agreed to this entire ridiculous thing. The mindset he’d been in was pretty much one big dark cloud of _well nothing could probably get worse than this,_ and so he’d agreed. In exchange for some good PR and a sponsorship cheque, he was in turn going to allow a camera crew into his home to document everything he didn’t like about it and then pay them to try to fix it or find him a new house to buy.

The whole concept of the show smacked of undefinable American-ness - the idea that your all dreams can be achievable if you only work hard enough or look long enough. He couldn’t deny that same shiny allure had brought him to North America and to the NHL in the past, and maybe that was why he was still here, swinging the door open on cue, ignoring the producer standing just out of frame and facing his fate head on.

Fate turned out to be two overwhelmingly beautiful people and a camera aimed directly at his face. Zhenya hoped he didn’t look as sweaty as he felt.

“Евге́ний Влади́мирович!” the woman - Anna, he knew, of course - addressed him with a wide smile and held her hand out to him in introduction.

He couldn’t lie and say one of the biggest reasons he stuck to this whole ridiculous production wasn’t _because_ of her. Anna Kasterova, while he’d never met her before, was well known in the relatively tightly knit circle of notable Russians in North America.

He took her hand in his, dipping his head to brush a kiss to her cheek, murmuring his own greeting in Russian and feeling immediately more at ease. Even if everything was going terribly, at least he had one person he could turn to and say exactly what he wanted to and be assured they’d understand him perfectly.

“We’re about to spend a lot of time together, I hope we can become friends. Please call me Anya, no need for formality,” she told him with a wry smile, her bright eyes looking straight through him as she stepped back out of his space. She smelled like something undefinable, feminine in a complex way that made him think of home - only girls in Europe smelled like that. It was probably a combination of hair products and lotions and perfume, but it made him swallow roughly on his inhale and continue to follow her progress into the house.

She turned her sharp gaze on everything around his foyer, assessing it casually.

“Of course, I would like that, likewise I’m Zhenya,” he added, realizing there had been an awkward beat of silence while he was losing his mind about what she smelled like. She smiled at him, a dangerous and sharp thing - she knew exactly the kind of affect she was having on him.

“Not sure how I’m going to follow that…” the English was jarring for a moment, he’d forgotten about the man that had been just behind Anna. He was still standing on the threshold of his front door and also held a hand out for Zhenya to shake, “…but it’s nice to meet you as well. I’m Sid.”

Sid was almost Anna’s opposite, where she was thin and sharp all over he was stocky and blunt with an appealing roundness to his oval face and an endearingly crooked smile.  He looked clean and innocent, like someone had scrubbed him pink and told him if he stayed on his best behaviour he might get a cookie later. It made Zhenya mostly just want to see what he looked like messed up.

“Sid, nice to meet. I’m tell Anya to call me short name, but for American maybe too hard. Can call Geno.”

“Geno. Your hockey nickname?” Sid asked, practically looking up at him through his lashes. Zhenya realized in that moment Sid must know _exactly_ what he looked like. He glanced back at Anna, and then to Sid, and then to the camera - knowing this was going to be a longer summer than he’d even anticipated.

“Yes. You play?”

“Yeah, sometimes.” Sid flashed that smile again but before he could go on Anna was pushing between them.

“Okay boys can talk about hockey later, show house now.” She spoke for the first time in English, clearly for the camera and Sid’s benefit.

It took the better part of the morning to film a tour of the house, entering rooms and then re-entering them with the camera crew on the other side of the door, or repeating their conversations as close to word for word as possible from different camera angles.

There were just so many rooms, Zhenya thought not for the first time that he should have gotten something a little smaller. He thought however that he’d have had a big noisy family to start filling the rooms by now, or at least have gotten a good start on it. Instead there had been a lot of heartbreak and long nights spent rattling around his house completely alone.

Of course that was usually when he was being his _most melodramatic_ , as Seryozha would say. Usually he kept a rotation of friends and family filling his guest rooms and kitchen, meeting him after work for late night tea and enjoying the sights and sounds of everyday America when he was busy with practice or a game. Anatoli had posted what seemed like an endless stream of photos of himself eating American MacDonald’s when he’d first visited Zhenya - overwhelmed with its look, and smell, and sugary taste. He’d spent the rest of the day curled up and useless with indigestion in the media room, but proudly showed his photo evidence wracking up likes by the minute.

In the end he kept himself too busy to really even spend all that much time in his house, and what time he was there the house itself didn’t _really_ matter too much.

He told all of this - or as much as he could - to Sid and Anna, set up carefully inside of framed shots at his scuffed wooden kitchen table. He tried to ignore the cameras as much as possible, like the Pens TV crew, but more intrusive because the camera guys made increasingly impatient noises when he managed to wriggle half out of frame _again._

“So tell me, Zhenya, what are must haves on your home list to get you to put your house for sale?” He could tell by the practiced way Anna said the sentence that it was familiar to her, she had probably said it dozens of times already this year.

“Want something private not easy for public to find, nice - no repairs,” he thought of the endless small projects his creaky old house required, “Also space for parents, billiards room, outside for banya, more garage for more cars, not far from airport, not too boring looks,” he paused at that knowing he wasn’t explaining himself fully and expanded in Russian.

“I don’t want a giant new American house with no character or soul.”

Anna nodded knowingly, adding to her notes.

“It sounds like I’ll have a big job to do, but something different than usual. Fun.”

They moved on, as naturally as possible with camera crew halting their conversations every so often asking them to repeat themselves. Zhenya was growing weary of the whole endeavour already.

“And what do you want to see changed in your home as it is to get you to want to stay here?” Sid asked him in a soft voice, square hand cradling a carpenter’s pencil hovering ready over a yellow legal pad. Anna had taken all of her notes on her phone but Sid appeared to like to do things a little more old school.

“Would like remove left over lifts, elevator already done but ugly.” The most pressing matters in the house were definitely the few things left customized to an old lady living there. As much fun as his friends had had being lifted up the spiralling stairs at a quarter the speed you could climb them he was done with that particular household feature.

“Make kitchen better, newer, bigger fridge? Make TV room more like movies. Make house more like mine.” He felt like he was grasping at straws, he didn’t necessarily know what he wanted to change in the house, just that it didn’t quite fit at the moment, like a skate that wasn’t broken in and kept giving him blisters.

“Okay, that’s a pretty good list, I have some ideas I’d like to explore.” Sid said without even looking up, continuing to jot things down on his pad.

When it came time to discuss money, budgets and mortgages they’d already worked everything out ahead of time as to make this episode special without seeming excessive or ignorant of what Zhenya could actually spend. It was a delicate balance that he didn’t particularly enjoy walking, but Sid and Anna were clearly old hands at deftly handling the awkward subject of money.

“I really think I will win this one, Sid,” Anna summed up cheekily, leaning back in her chair and tossing her hair over one shoulder.

“Oh yeah?” Sid grinned wryly at her, “I’m not so sure about that. I think I have a _lot_ to work with.”

While their banter was a little staged, there was definitely an underlying current of competition between them. They both clearly enjoyed the challenge. Zhenya could relate, he chafed when dared and doubted, eager to prove himself the best. He was among good company - maybe he was starting to see the appeal of this type of show.

—

 **SID [Talking Head - Location: Foyer]  
**I think I have this one. Geno didn’t necessarily know how to say what he wanted, but his house is speaking for itself. He’s got an office full of hockey trophies just sitting piled up, not displayed properly, an out of date and frankly non-functional kitchen for someone who is over six foot, and I have the budget to really open things up. If I play it smart, I think I can make this the home Geno’s been hoping for.

 

 **ANNA [Talking Head - Location: Back garden]  
**Sid is not going to get this one. Zhenya and I are countrymen. I understand exactly what kind of style of home he would like and how to get it. This area has many beautiful and modern homes well within his price range, also what Pittsburgh and other areas have to offer. I’m going to win.

—

Instead of packing up to go back to Russia for the summer, Zhenya found himself packing his _entire_ house up to be put into a temporary storage unit on his back acre. It was unforgiving work, and he did not envy any of his previous teammates that had been traded mid-season. He had an entire production crew and whoever was left of the team that he could bribe into helping him tape up boxes and transfer them to the already sweltering storage unit, but it still took an entire three days to see to everything before he could hand his keys over to Sid.

The day the handoff happened there were no camera crews around at all.

Zhenya pulled into his own driveway - having been staying a few streets over with Seryozha’s family, like a weird time warp back to being 20 and completely adrift in a sea of barely comprehensible English speakers  - only to see Sid’s truck already parked near the garage. The truck had a sticker for his construction company on one side of the bumper and on the other was a weathered penguins decal. It was old, like Sid had had it there for as long as he’d had the truck.

Maybe he was a bigger hockey fan than he’d let on initially?

When Zhenya found him, Sid was sitting on the front porch, hands buried in the neck scruff of a beautiful border collie, smiling down at it wide and unguarded. The dog had eyes only for Sid even as Zhenya approached over the gravel drive, drawing Sid’s attention to him.

“Good morning.” Sid was wearing a heather grey henley that stretched taut over his shoulders and a dark ball cap that shaded his eyes but did nothing to disguise his immediately recognizable mouth. The dog had finally seemed to notice Zhenya, trotting over to him with excitement to meet someone new, but staying cautiously back out of arm’s reach.

“That’s Dot,” Sid explained as Zhenya dropped into a crouch, extending his hand for the dog to smell, hoping it would let him pet it, “She’s a little shy.”

“We’ll be friends though, won’t we?” Zhenya couldn’t resist sweet talking to her a little, encouraging as she sniffled and licked his hand, and stepped into the prime scratching zone.

“Such a good girl aren’t you?” he shuffled a little closer to get both hands on her, delighting as her tongue lolled out in a doggy grin at him.

“She’s deaf, so no amount of promising treats will make her love you, but I don’t think you’re going to have that problem.” Sid stood from the step and brushed his hands over the seat of his jeans and hips.

Zhenya tracked the movement and then glanced up to find Sid already watching him with an amused, knowing look in his eyes.

“I wanted to go over a few last details with you before we get into demolition mode.” Sid nodded his head towards Dot, “She’s one of them. I usually have her around and with the crew, but I wanted to make sure that would be alright with you.”

“Not dangerous?”

“No, she’s pretty used to sites like this by now and knows when to stay out of the way. I’ve got a kennel for her I’ll set up out back as well for when it really is dangerous.” Sid gestured out toward where Zhenya had his banya installed.

“You help Sid? Smart girl.” Zhenya couldn’t help speaking to her, even knowing she was deaf. He loved animals and regretted that he had too little time to spend with a pet of his own.

“She’s the best,” Sid said with pure affection in his voice and Zhenya had to agree.

“What else we need talk about?” He was loathe to remove himself from lavishing Dot with attention but he did have other meetings lined up for the day - once his sponsors found out he was going to be staying in North America this summer many of his obligations were getting swapped around in a hurry.

“We need to do one last walkthrough of the property to make sure nothing has been forgotten and to go over my initial plans. We’re going to do it again on tape, but that will be after we’ve already started demo for viewer interest - but that’s a little rash to do in reality. I’m not going to just start ripping things out without you even approving them.”

Sid’s body language was naturally open, betraying a sense of earnestness. It suited him, he just _looked_ like a good person. He looked like the kind of hard working man who’d help and old lady across the street, or get your cat out of a tree. It was no wonder he’d been scouted to host a show like this, he probably put skittish home owners immediately at ease.

“Then we also need to go over if there’s anything you want me to pay any specific attention to off camera or if you’ve thought of anything new. And finally we’ll go over the production schedule.”

“I get from ADs already.” There were an alarming number of emails popping up in his inbox every day with schedule upon schedule written out for him.

“Those are official. I want you to feel like you can actually come by whenever you’d like, and know what’s going to be going on. This is still your house and you’re still paying for something you’re actually going to want - whether you actually keep the house or not.” Sid set his hands on his hips naturally; Zhenya smirked to himself, doubtful that Sid even realized the superhero figure he cut.

“ _I’d_ like it if you were more involved, especially in the beginning - we can always use a spare set of hands and a strong back.” Sid tossed out, looking earnest still, but maybe also a little like he was flirting, his serious business demeanour dropping off.

“Want me to-” Zhenya mimed swinging a sledge hammer, maybe getting it a little too much like a baseball bat, but Sid nodded nonetheless.

“Yeah, if you want to. I mean, it’s really satisfying to take out exactly what’s been bothering you in your house. Take a hammer to the stairs or your cabinetry or whatever.”

Zhenya considered it carefully.

“If you can do, I can do,” he definitely could not resist a little pigtail pulling. Sid narrowed his eyes at Zhenya.

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“Maybe it is. We see soon. House?” Zhenya gestured for Sid to lead the way into his empty house, careful not to tread on Dot as she weaved between them.

While they did their walkthrough Zhenya caught glimpses of other people arriving through the windows. Trucks started filling up one side of his curving driveway and from out of them came various boxes, trailers, and equipment, all being set up in his patio or just set on the lawn in preparation for work to be done.

A dumpster was delivered at some point and Zhenya caught Sid smirking at the look on his face when he noticed it. He couldn’t help it, the dumpster was just making this all very real, things were actually going to start changing.

They ended their tour when Zhenya made a trip to the ground floor powder room, and when he returned it was to the sight of Sid standing in the middle of the kitchen having at some point acquired a very adorable gurgling baby girl.

She saw him first before Sid did, dark eyes fixed on him with interest grunting out her own particular baby greeting. Clearly she wasn’t shy at all.

“What’s this one name?” He asked when Sid turned toward him, she turned in his arms as well to keep Zhenya in her line of vision, stuffing her hand into her mouth absently.

“This is Scarlett. Scarlett this is Geno.” Sid introduced them, affection obvious in his voice, waving Scarlet’s other unoccupied chubby baby arm in his direction. Zhenya reached out to take the same un-gummy hand while she gazed up at him with huge eyes.

“Nice to meet Scarlett, very pretty girl.” Zhenya looked up at Sid who was looking down at her with nothing but love in his eyes, “Is yours?”

He was used to being surrounded by teammates with surprise young children, long ago having made uneasy peace with the idea that he was slow to make a family. He was jealous of course, and a little annoyed that Sid flirted as freely as he did but it was an old and familiar emotion by now, broken-in in his tired heart.

“Mine?” Sid looked at him with confusion for a moment, “Oh- Oh Scarlett? Oh, no, her dad is-”

“Far more handsome and important than Sidney.”

Zhenya and Sid both turned to see where a thin man with a wide smile was ushering another little girl into the kitchen from the back garden. The baby had his dark eyes, unmistakably.

“Geno, this is Marc-André, he’s my landscaping expert,” Sid said with warmth in his tone - he liked this family, “And that is Estelle,” he nodded at the little girl who smiled shyly up at them but was then completely distracted by spotting Dot smelling the ground around where the garbage used to sit and rushed off to pet her.

“Please, call me Flower,” the other man reached out to shake Zhenya’s hand, “otherwise I’ll surely get confused who you are talking to.”

Zhenya blinked at him, clearly speaking English but with a heavy enough French-Canadian accent to give him pause and need to think about his words. Zhenya was familiar with the accent, coming from various young teammates plucked straight from their home province, but hadn’t been expecting to find one here.

“Flower?”

“My last name is Fleury. Fleury, Flower - I landscape, nicknames happen. You should know all about that, eh, _Geno_?” Flower teased, elongating his name as he took the baby back from Sid, settling her comfortably in his arms.

“Anyway, Flower is here spending his valuable daddy-daughter time to talk about your property with me, so I guess this is where our tour ends,” Sid said, gathering his notebook from the kitchen counter and handing him a sheet of paper creased from being tucked between the pages of the planner. Zhenya unfolded it to see a detailed schedule that Sid had obviously carefully crafted to show exactly who would be in Zhenya’s house on what days and for what purpose. The filming schedule was even neatly marked out within the rest of the notes.

“Very detail.” Zhenya said, impressed.

Flower peered at it from over his shoulder and snorted.

“Sid? Detail oriented? No…” his sarcasm was heavy-handed, but Zhenya appreciated its amusing obviousness nonetheless. He got the impression that Sid and Flower were a little better friends than just contractor and landscaper. Zhenya tucked the piece of information away. If he wanted more information about Sid he just might need to get in Flower’s, or possibly Flower’s daughter’s, good graces.

“I like to be as transparent as possible. If this was an ordinary job you wouldn’t want just anyone having unlimited 24 hour access to your home.” Zhenya had to agree, but it was still thoughtful and probably well beyond his scope of responsibility.

“Okay, thank you. Look good.” Zhenya re-folded the paper and tucked it into his back pocket, “I’m back for-” He didn’t remember the word but mimed swinging the hammer again. Sid brightened.

“Yes! Of course, you’re welcome to join us tomorrow when we get started.”

“Oh? You’re going to get dirty with Sid’s crew?” Flower asked, eyebrows raised, before looking at Sid with something in his expression that Zhenya didn’t necessarily know how to decode, “Very fun. Very _interesting_.” He swayed with the baby, he and Sid having one of those silent conversations that only the very oldest and best of friends could have.

He left shortly after that, Sid and Flower seeing him out, Sid seeming genuine in his quest to see Zhenya to his car and Flower waving in dramatic mock goodbye from the front steps.

In the car while turning the engine over and buckling his seat belt, Zhenya checked his phone. So many work emails and text messages from friends inquiring about his absent itinerary for his return to Russia. He turned off the screen and chucked the phone into the passenger seat, not yet ready to face the idea of not returning to his true home at all this year.

He gave one last look at the house in front of him. Maybe with enough work this would be his home one day - but not today.

—

**Unknown:** < A little bird told me you’d be helping Sid with the demolition tomorrow >  


By the time he was ready to face all the messages in his phone it was well after lunch. Zhenya sat in Seryozha’s kitchen with his laptop and his phone out, ready to get the necessary evil that was correspondence done for the day.

He supposed by the Russian coming from an unknown North American number that it was probably Anya texting him, having gotten _his_ number from somewhere that wasn’t him, _interesting._

It had only been a few hours since he’d seen Sid and agreed to help with demolition. So that meant it was probably Sid himself (or Flower if Anna and Flower knew each other at all) who had told her. They’d been talking about him. _Very interesting._

**Zhenya:** < Did he tell you that? >  


He figured that was probably a pretty safe reply, and turned his attention to answering a few other texts. The ones from teammates got gifs so he didn’t have to swap his keyboards. He was just hitting send on a hamster hoovering sunflower seeds again and again in reply to Smitty asking if he wanted to go for lunch this week before he went home when a slew of new texts from Anya came through.

**Anya:** < A woman has her secrets. >  
  
**Anya:** < I hope you don’t mind I requested your number from production - for innocent practical reasons of course - but I couldn’t resist when I heard you’d be spending EXTRA time with Sid. >  
  
**Anya:** < Showing favouritism already? >  
  
**Anya:** < I’m hurt, Zhenya, and here I thought we had a special bond. >  
  
**Zhenya:** < Your messages are currently a bright point in my day, I don’t mind >  
  
**Zhenya:** < Sid is very convincing >  
  
**Zhenya:** < He brought along a disabled dog and was holding a baby, I couldn’t say no >  
  
**Anya:** < He’s such a cheater! Where did he get a baby!? >  
  
**Zhenya:** < Flower - I don’t remember his real name, the landscaper >  
  
**Anya:** < Of course… >  
  
**Anya:** < So, are you excited to act like a big tough man for a day? >  
  
**Zhenya:** < I’m a hockey player, I’m a big tough man every day >  
  


He paused before sending another text. It felt like they were firmly toeing the flirting line, so he decided to test the waters.

**Zhenya:** < Why? >  
  
**Zhenya:** < Are you into that? >  
  
**Anya:** < Hard to say, maybe instead of being a lot of good looking men doing hard work it’ll be a bunch of little boys having fun smashing things? >  
  


He liked the way she thought. Talking to her was fun, playful, like playing cat and mouse but he was never sure who was the cat and who was the mouse.

**Zhenya:** < Likely both >  
  
**Anya:** < 😂 Should I stop by to see then? >  
  
**Anya:** < Sid does look very good in a tool belt 👀 >  
  
**Zhenya:** < What about me? >  
  
**Anya:** < I’ve never seen you in a tool belt. >  
  
**Anya:** < As you said, you’re a hockey player. I’m not sure you’ll know what to do without a helmet on. >  
  


The only thing he could reply to that with was a gif of a very young hockey player taking two wobbly strides in his skates before falling spectacularly.

Very interesting indeed.

—

 **EVGENI [standing on his front lawn]  
**Little nervous for construction. Pack up whole house, give keys, you know? Like have nothing at all, start over. Excited too, Sid maybe make things like new, make changes I don’t know. Maybe Anya find something better, something I’m like more. Maybe bowling alley in basement, you know? It’s crazy.

—

The counter came off in his kitchen with a few ear splitting cracks and four men lifting it. They shuffled together to get to a clear space where they could sit the large slab of granite down.

That was where he found Sid, already sporting what looked like drywall dust in his hair and his brow furrowed behind a pair of safety glasses. Every muscle in his forearm stood out in relief while he struggled with the rest of them under the weight of the stone as they put it aside.

“Am too late?” Zhenya asked once they were all clear.

Sid’s schedule had their crew starting in the morning, but not overly early, so he’d picked some older gym clothes to wear with running shoes and headed over late enough he probably wouldn’t be put to work -  which was the true goal.

“Geno!” Sid turned to him, beaming the startlingly bright look of a morning person who’d been awake for hours already. “You came! You’re not too late, at all.” Damn.

Sid gave him a long once over that was one part practical and one part assessing. Zhenya raised his eyebrows at him, tempted to cock his hip and just outright ask if he liked what he saw.

“You’re here just in time to take out the peninsula,” he patted the long piece of cabinetry that stuck out from the wall, “But we’ll get you some safety gear first. Come with me.”

Zhenya followed Sid through the house, eyes falling to the tool belt around Sid’s hips, framing his ass nicely. Anya was right about one thing.

After a humiliatingly long time being fitted in various borrowed pieces of equipment, (including a spare pair of just a little too big steel toed boots from a very amused crew member named Jamie) he was finally ready to apparently knock some shit down.

Sid handed him a sledgehammer and a hard hat at last.

“Make my head ever bigger?” Zhenya joked, taking the plastic helmet and fitting it snugly on his head.

“Yeah,” Sid donned his own ridiculous yellow hat, but somehow he was pulling it off. The sexy carpenter vibes were real. “But I’d rather we all look ridiculous than get hurt accidentally.”

“Yes, coach,” Zhenya teased, and then hefted the sledgehammer which was about three times heavier than it looked. He tried not to let it show that he hadn’t been expecting it.

“You want the first crack at it?” Sid asked, gesturing to the door-less cabinetry that was waiting to be taken out.

First crack turned out to require a little more muscle than he’d used because the hammer bounced off the cabinets with his first tentative swing. Sid looked too amused by half as he took his first swing and smashed through a shelf entirely, blowing huge splinters everywhere.

“Show off,” Zhenya spat at him, and secretly delighted when Sid laughed abruptly, a great honking ugly thing.

He refocused, this time picking the hammer up with purpose. Determined, he brought it down with a satisfying crack as the peninsula rocked off its foundations. Destruction was, as it always had been, _fun_.

Once he got going he found out Sid was completely right, it was cathartic to take out that corner that he stubbed his toe on every morning, and bash through the ugly panelling he’d been hating for years.

He helped the crew pull cabinetry clear off the walls and then hammered through the ugly beige tile backsplash and tear down the entire wall behind.

When Sid said he’d put Zhenya to work, he really hadn’t been joking, and he was given the same load and expected to work at the same pace as the rest of the men. As a point of pride, he kept up, but internally he was definitely done with the free manual labour.

Zhenya slipped his phone out of his pocket the first chance he got.

**Zhenya:** < Come save me >  
  
**Anya:** 😂😂   
  
**Anya:** < What happened to being a big strong hockey player? >  


Zhenya looked over at where Sid was ripping through drywall, just like he had been for the past two hours, no stopping.

**Zhenya:** < I’m a pampered professional athlete who takes naps as part of training >  
  
**Zhenya:** < Sid works harder than god >  
  
**Zhenya:** < You might be the only one who can stop him >  
  
**Anya:** 😂   
  


“Hey,” Sid appeared before him, and Zhenya quickly tucked his phone back into his pocket, feeling a little like a student have been caught out texting in class.

“Do you want to have a last look at some of these floor plans?” Sid asked, eyes twinkling with mirth, like he knew exactly how Zhenya had been feeling, “You look like you could use a break.”

Zhenya bristled at that, despite how accurate it was.

“My house, of course. Show me.”

Sid took him to the construction headquarters outside on the patio. He unrolled some blueprints on Zhenya’s patio table, usually used only for eating on and playing poker at.

They poured over them together, Sid pointing out various small changes in square footage and storage and Zhenya puzzling at it, flipping the plans back and forth to try to decide which one he wanted the most.

“Can I ask what’s up with the statues?” Sid asked, and when Zhenya looked up he wasn’t looking at the plans at all but instead at where Predator and Alien were stationed, welcoming the crew members into the garden space.

“Some for just fun,” Zhenya shrugged, “Saw, liked, bought.”

“You don’t think they’re a little…”

“No one like them. Don’t matter. I like.” Zhenya looked at the plans again, “Don’t have stuff in you house you only like?”

“Ah,” Sid sounded a little choked and Zhenya looked up with delight. He kind of expected Sid to only have fashionable designer things, just like all the homes he made for other people, only good taste in neutrals and wicker balls in bowls for no reason.

“I guess I have a little bit of an obsession.” Sid said, flushing like he was wont to do apparently. Zhenya turned to him again and leaned in conspiratorially. “I have a lot of nautical stuff - like boats, rope, anchors,” he explained seeing Zhenya’s puzzled look.

“Not really same.” He was disappointed, he thought he was going to hear about a lamp that looked like a woman’s leg or an egg chair or something _good_.

“It’s tacky and overdone,” Sid protested, “But I’m originally from a fishing town and it just…reminds me of home, kitsch and all.”

“Home is good,” Zhenya agreed, considering the plans again. Deciding which of these said _home_ however was maybe a job for someone else. They all looked the same.

“Hey, before I forget, let me get a picture of you.” Sid said pulling his own phone out of his pocket. Zhenya looked up curiously, Sid didn’t seem the ‘hey let me get a selfie with you real quick’ type of person.

Seeing the look he was getting Sid explained “It’s for the show’s instagram, I have to send it to our production people.” Zhenya held still obediently, hoping his face wasn’t doing that thing where it looked like he’d forgotten how to smile - or was mid sneeze again. “They’ll probably share it with the Pens media team.”

Sid tapped away at his phone with a furrowed brow of concentration. Clearly it wasn’t something he did with second nature. It was kind of charming how clumsy he was about it. That just reminded him that Sid must have gone out of his way and sought out Anya to tell her about their plans.

“You text with Anya?” Zhenya came over to look over Sid’s shoulder at the photo he’d taken. He was a fairly good photographer, Zhenya was nicely framed with the house blurred out behind him, plans indistinct but clearly _plans_ before him. He did not, in fact, look like he’d forgotten how to smile again, but he did maybe look like he was looking at someone he was incredibly fond of.

Well, Sid didn’t know what that looked like, yet.

“Huh?” Sid glanced up from his phone and startled to find Zhenya so close, “Oh, yeah, I text Anna sometimes.”

“Good friends? Talk always?” Zhenya asked, refusing to move further away.

“Yeah, we’re pretty good friends. Why do you ask?”

“She text me, get my number from-” he waved a hand to encompass whatever means Anya had gone to to retrieve his personal information, “She know I come help today. You tell her?”

“Oh um,” Sid frowned, “Should I not have?”

“Of course you should have.” Anya stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking clean and chic in expensive stilettos and a pair of cuffed black jeans. Zhenya couldn’t believe what he was seeing for a moment. He had texted her partially in jest, and yet here she was, coming to his aid.

“Are you here to snoop?” Sid asked, affection and suspicion in his tone.  

“Snoop? Me?” Anna replied, all mock innocence, smiling sunnily at them and taking the step down into the patio proper, “You’re try to steal _my_ client. Making him do all hard work.”

“You believe I can do hard work then?” Zhenya asked her, Russian tripping out of him.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” She gave him a once over. “Too bad there’s no tool belt,” she teased, glancing at Sid’s hips for just a moment.

“What?” Sid looked down at himself and then at each of them, suspicious.

“Sorry, Sid. Zhenya’s very rude. I rescue him from you now.” Anya said easily.

“Uh? Rescue?” Sid’s expression was deeply skeptical.

“You work far too hard, poor Zhenya can’t keep up.” She made an exaggerated sad face, patting Zhenya’s arm lightly.

“I see.” Sid began to roll up the plans, smiling crookedly, “Well, you’ve done your time, I guess. You’re released from needing to help.”

“Good. You need keep some surprise for show.” She linked her arm into Zhenya’s as easily as if she had always done it and knocked his hard hat off with a tsk.

Sid, all reflexes and rippling back muscles, caught the helmet before it could hit the patio stones like it was nothing.

“Alright. You’re right about the show at least. Geno, I’ll see you in a few days, eh?”

“Yes. I’m see Dot next time?” Sid laughed at that, lopsided and crinkle-eyed. Something in Zhenya’s chest lurched at the sight.

“For sure.”

—

“So what now?” Zhenya asked letting himself be towed out of the house, leaving his borrowed gear on the front steps to be found and redistributed to where it belonged later.

“You’re asking _me_ , when you begged I spring you from Sid’s work schedule?” Anna set her hands on her hips, cutting a striking figure even while navigating a gravel path in heels as high as hers were.

“We could go get ice cream?” He said the first thing that popped into his head, which admittedly was not as smooth or brilliant as he’d prefer. Anya just laughed delightedly.

“You’re a strange big tough hockey player aren’t you?” She aimed a knowing look at him, “Come on, ice cream, and we should actually discuss when we’re going to schedule our property walkthroughs with the camera crew.”

They left her Mercedes in the driveway and folded themselves into his car, zipping through the quiet streets towards the town of Edgeworth proper.

“You are getting along with Sid though?” Anya turned to him as he drove, checking in. Zhenya furrowed his brow.

“Of course. Sid is great. He’s a little weird maybe, has a kind of perfectionist energy,” he tried to explain and hoped she got it, “But I like him, very much.”

Anya just nodded, “Yes. I only worry because, well because you’re so alike.”

“How do you know we’re so much the same? I can see maybe some familiar traits but how’re you sure?” Anya looked out the window at that, smile dropping from her face a little bit.

“You’re going to think it’s stupid.”

“Try me. I regularly work with grown men who spend entire days repeating doing the same thing in exactly the same order no matter what it is, because they believe it will recreate luck for them.” Zhenya has heard his fair share of stupid, and sometimes you just had to go along with it, maybe only using black stick tape _was_ the only way they’d win.

“You’re much alike in the sense that your birthdays are only a week apart.”

Zhenya hadn’t been expecting that.

“Oh yeah? What does that mean?” He was willing to hazard a guess, but might as well get her to spell it out for him. Anya sighed expansively.

“Well that’s the interesting part - you’re both strong leos, you shouldn’t get along very well, too brave-hearted and passionate and involved in your own lives.” She sounded like she could probably go on for a while.

“Okay…”

“But I think it’s your zodiac - you are one year older, a tiger, while Sid is a rabbit. That makes all the difference.” Anya continued unhindered by his opinion.“He is a peaceful, hardworking, energetic sort, and _you_ are adventurous and like taking risks and having fun. Not exactly a likely pair, but not opposed either.”

“This sounds like you’ve been thinking about it for a while.” Zhenya mused, turning onto a main road that would take them into town.

“It’s a hobby. I like to know things about people. So do you, _Tiger_.” She teased him in an accusatory manner. He couldn’t deny she was right about any of it though.

“You could just ask them, like a normal person.” He mock grumbled.

“When did I ever say I was a normal person?” she turned towards him with an impish grin and eyes sparkling. He was struck by the fact that maybe this was the most beautiful woman he’d ever spoken to.

He re-adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and tried to focus on the road.

“Alright, since you know so much about _us_ , tell me what are you? A fire badger? A blood serpent?”

“What are those? Are you just making things up? Those are awful.” Anna laughed widely, covering her face with her hands.

“They sound exactly like what you were just saying!” He exaggerated to make her laugh further. God he loved making her laugh.

“I’m a virgo, and, a, ah- my zodiac is a… mouse.” She looked out the window at that, unwilling to divulge further. Zhenya hummed.

“A mouse. Well a tiger is a cat, does that make us Tom and Jerry?” He thought about how he’d already thought of their banter like a game of cat and mouse, perhaps there was more merit to her hobby than he originally thought.

“I do like Jerry’s little bow tie.” Anna agreed and then smacked at his arm like he was maybe going to miss their turn off to the main street where they would find their iced treat. It was such a familiar nagging kind of gesture, clearly an ingrained habit she hadn’t even thought about.

Zhenya laughed loudly. “You’re a strange, bossy little thing, aren’t you?”

“Well _you_ have very strange teeth, but _I’m_ much too polite to say anything like that.” She crossed her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows in challenge.

Zhenya laughed until the car behind them honked.

_—_

_Excerpt from_ **_MALKIN TEAM + SASHA (GROUP CHAT)_ ** _Translated from the original Russian_

 **Tolya  
**So wait are you like dating both of them???? Zhenya, MY SON!!! 🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆💦

 **Zhenya  
**that’s what you got out of this?

 **Max  
**He’s a child remember?

 **Zhenya  
**no, it’s mostly just…like flirting so far

 **Tolya  
** 🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆  
MY SOOOOOON  
Oh, that’s lame

****

**Zhenya  
** i’m not sure what i’m doing with either of them honestly  
there’s a camera in my face half the time, and i have to make decorating choices  
i don’t care about _any_ of it  
will it have a bed and a fridge? ok.

****

**Max  
** You also need guest rooms for your family. And me.  
And a sweet media room.  
What was wrong with your house the way it was?

****

**Zhenya  
**“grandma chic” is how it was described i think

 **Tolya  
**Yo, that chair lift thing was dope tho

 **Dima  
** Zhenya it doesn’t really sound like you not to care about your home  
you’re the guy who makes sure he has fresh flowers always

 **Tolya  
**Yeah no one does that bro

 **Zhenya  
**flowers are nice and it’s not like i do it every week, the housekeeper brings them!

 **Dima  
**Okay well, what i’m saying is you signed up for this thing for a reason, maybe deep down you really want a change, or to make your home more aligned with who you are.

 **Zhenya  
** who am i?  
when i’m here i’m like two people  
Zhenya or Geno?  
do you think that’s why i’m so torn about who i’m interested in? is Zhenya into Anya and Geno is into Sid?

 **Max  
**i think all of you is into all of them

 **Tolya  
**That’s what she said

 **Dima  
**This isn’t the first time you’ve expressed feeling torn, or being split into two distinct people. Maybe this is your chance to try and reconcile the two sides…

 **Tolya  
** Have you _SEEN_ her Maxim spread?  
_> attachment_  
>attachment  
>attachment  
damnit Zhenya, tall lucky bastard

 **Max  
**Way to bring the tone way down

 **Sasha  
**Geno is a stupid name and a stupid player. Much prefer Zhenya.

 **Zhenya  
** coming from you _Rads_ , that’s very hard to hear  
did i tell you that she writes me emails? they’re mostly about properties we need to visit, but they’re beautifully written, her russian is completely impeccable

 **Sasha  
** i should sure hope so, since she’s _Russian_ .  
you’re acting like you never speak anything but english, when we all know you can barely speak it at all. what’s wrong with _our_ russian that _hers_ is so beautiful?

 **Zhenya  
**when a beautiful woman writes you emails you can tell me what the difference is between them and your shitty friends GC okay?

 **Sasha  
** Married already, shit head  
🖕🏻🖕🏻

 **Tolya  
** this guy…this guy has entire blogs devoted to his ass.  
👀🍑  
_ >link  
_look at it though, it’s a work of art

 **Max  
**Tolya you are freaking me out.

 **Tolya  
** I’m researching for my good friend Zhenya while it’s ass’o’clock here may i add.  
idk what you’re doing over there

 **Dima  
**So are you communicating more with Anya then? with the emails?

 **Zhenya  
** the emails are mostly about the houses and the show  
i text with them both, anya is funny …sid is …sid sends me photos of his dog

 **Max  
**uh-oh

 **Dima  
**uh-oh

 **Toyla  
**uh-oh

 **Sasha  
**Jesus christ

_/Sasha has logged off_

_—_

“So serious,” Zhenya said in a low voice, sidling up to where Sid was sipping from a water bottle as the camera crew was setting up a new shot or taking a break or whatever it was they were doing while not pointing their massive cameras at them.

“I guess.” Sid gave him a small smile, eyes darting over to the crew, “I’m not naturally great in front of a camera.” he tucked his hands into his pockets awkwardly. It was the most ridiculous statement Zhenya had maybe ever heard.

It had been about a week since they’d last seen each other for the demolition and now the walkthrough was going exceedingly according to plan.

Sid had acquired his number in the meantime, maybe from production, like Anna had, or maybe from Anna herself. It became apparent nearly immediately that neither one of them was particularly good at texting in English. Sid apparently didn’t have the patience, or rhythm for it or something.

Instead they quickly started sending photos back and forth. Sid could be counted on to regularly send Zhenya photos teasing the work that was being done on his house, or beautiful pictures of Dot standing his yard at sunset.

Zhenya looked forward to them every day. He enjoyed the simplicity of photography, and how they could communicate completely clearly without any words at all.

Zhenya sent him back photos from restaurants, and of the dogs he saw and petted in the city, and selfies with Seryozha’s daughters crammed into the frame with him, all of them decked out in princess accoutrements from some game they enjoyed making him play with them.

Those ones received laughing emojis back.

So it was a little frustrating now when they’d finally gotten to see each other in person it was just Sid taking Zhenya from room to room, outlining his plans with grand gestures while a camera crew followed them closely. Sid was far more bland in front of the cameras than he was with Zhenya alone, or within the confines of their digital photography conversations, no jokes or dogs at all while they were rolling.

Outside of that alone it was a taxing day, trying to have all of the appropriate reactions that the producer wanted from him, and then trying to replicate that emotion or phrase several times while the cameras focused on him from different angles. He was sure they were going to get about as good a performance out of him as they would a wooden doll, that’s what happened with the Pens TV christmas video every year.

Now, he had little to no ability to mask his emotions on his face left, so whatever Sid read from the movement of his eyebrows must have communicated what a steaming pile of bullshit he thought that statement was.

“I mean, I kind of just fell into this. I guess people don’t mind what I have to say, and I’ve been told I’m pretty likeable.” Sid shrugged, looking uncomfortable still.

“Smart, handsome, kind, modest…” Zhenya trailed off because there were more attributes but Sid was turning pink with embarrassment again. “Think you more than ‘not mind’.”

“Well in any case, it doesn’t feel natural, no matter how much it might appear that it is. And besides, a lot of it is editing,” he said, meeting Zhenya’s gaze head on, sounding rehearsed, like he’d said it countless times to fans before.

Zhenya could scarcely believe that someone as clearly talented as Sid had maybe less than zero ego about him.

“I’m better with my hands. Building things is really what I want to do, and of course I mostly get to do really great stuff with the show.” he sounded genuine, like he really believed what he was saying, “And it gives me a platform that I can use to help people. Mostly people without homes,” he added like it was a given, like it was something anyone would do.

“Fuck.” Zhenya said in a low tone and upon Sid’s curious look moved in a little closer to him, “You not like real person, you know?”

Sid’s mouth dropped open like he wanted to say something but nothing came out, Zhenya took another step into Sid’s space, staring intently, obviously, at his lips.

“So good,” Zhenya said in a low voice, “You _ever_ bad?”

Sid said nothing, mouth still open, flush spreading from his cheeks to his ears. Zhenya took the bottle of water from his lax grip and brought it to his own lips, drinking deeply even as the crew starting making noises to get them back into position for the next round of shots.

Zhenya took a few steps back, handing the empty water bottle off to a crew member for disposal and when he looked up again, Sid was still staring at him, eyes dark.

—

 **NARRATOR [V.O.]  
**While construction is underway and Sid gets back to work on the changes in Evgeni’s house, Anna has several properties to show him. She’s hoping to take some time to narrow down what’s really important to this fast paced athlete who seems to have everything already.

—

“Do you really think I need something this big?” Zhenya asked Anna, emphasizing his tone to show how the cavernous space echoed. It was his turn to have his hands stuffed in his pockets as he trailed after Anna’s clacking heels through room after room, mansion after mansion.

He didn’t remember his original quest for a house being this exhausting, but he’d also been all of twenty years old and so excited to have his own space to be bought with his own money that he’d taken the first thing he thought was suitably grand.

“This is in your price range and has enough room for all your friends, and your family, and room to grow into it,” Anna said patiently, smiling sweetly at the camera crew although they were growing weary of trailing them without a clue as to what was going on as they spoke Russian.

“It has blue lockers.” Zhenya reached out and knocked on one of the kitchen cabinets that were for some reason wide, metal and cobalt blue. They even had little vents in them to really complete the look of having your own at home gym locker room complete with stove and stainless steel refrigerator.  

“It’s a modernist design. Your condo in Miami has a green chandelier,” Anna countered, folding her arms across her slim frame.

“How do you know about that?” He stepped back from the cabinets and turned to face her properly. He didn’t think he’d ever told her about his condo, or posted any pictures of it other than a few to his social media accounts here and there.

“Please. I pulled all your property records to get a feel for what kind of spaces you like. Your decorating taste is a little eclectic.” She waved a had dismissing his concern and bulldozing through the implications of her snooping into his life. This was beginning to become a pattern with her.

“You mean my decorating taste is non-existent. That green thing was there when I bought the place, I just never changed it,” he pointed out, relishing her pause as they looked at each other from across the ridiculous kitchen they were standing in, camera crew filming every second.  

“That’s two exceedingly expensive investments that you show almost no interest in making your mark on, Zhenya.” Anna said unimpressed, bordering on annoyed with him, “I’m beginning to get a little distressed at the trend as your friend,” she remarked a little softer.

They had been speaking quite candidly despite the cameras, almost the exact opposite of how Sid had been with them. Anna had explained to him that because they were speaking Russian it was likely she would be sitting with the editor to cut their parts of the episode together and then giving them translations as to what they were saying, so she could veto or edit what she wanted to.

“I don’t have a mind for decor. I like traditional things and as I’ve said, I always thought I’d have a family by now,” he shrugged openly, eyes skimming over the camera and the beautiful view of the property outside of the floor to ceiling windows behind Anna. He could see his reflection there, avoiding looking at her.

“You mean you always fell back on the ideal of a Russian wife to keep your home for you.” Anna’s words were as sharp as the truth could only be.

“Not just Russian. Hockey takes almost all of my focus during the season.”

Anna turned towards the crew at that, mentioning they’d like to take a break in a sunny tone and dismissing them for a few minutes before dragging him outside to stand on the balcony.

“You don’t deny your own laziness in the face of inevitability. You neglected to take care of yourself because you weren’t handed from your mother directly to a wife for safekeeping,” Anna picked up their conversation, sounding unimpressed and a little angry. Zhenya bristled at her tone.

He leaned against the railing on his elbows.

“Embracing western ideals doesn’t come as easily to me as to some others.” he shot back, implying the way she’d picked up her career and relocated to North America. Anna tapped her shoe impatiently at him and turned so her back was to the railing and they could somewhat face each other.

“On the contrary, it's been incredibly difficult to pick up and start again here. And you think I don’t have such simple wants as a family? To become a mother?” She said it matter-of-factly and Zhenya immediately felt chastened to have assumed anything about her at all. That wasn’t his place, and he didn’t want to be that sort of person.

“I spoke too soon maybe,” he said slowly, lifting from his elbows to his hands so he could look her in the eye, “We maybe have more in common than I thought.”

Anna nodded shortly.

“In any case, I will need to re-evaluate my choices on what to show you based on the fact you are more practical than I’d initially imagined,” she smiled at him and he laughed back, bumping her arm with his.

“What else had you lined up?”

“I’m not going to tell you. The things you see in people’s houses around here,” she held her face in mock fright, “worse than those terrible statues you have on your property - I suppose you didn’t pick those as well hm?”

Zhenya froze.

“Actually…”

Anna made an outraged noise and swatted his shoulder lightly.

“You made me think I was absolutely crazy thinking your taste was a little tacky Evgeni Malkin- but you paid good money for those _atrocities_ ,” she stomped her way back inside, still fuming.

“Hey!” Zhenya exclaimed, chuckling and trailing after her, happy to do so - for maybe as long as she would let him.

—

 **ANNA [Talking Head - Location: tree lined street]  
**Zhenya is a very challenging client! He’s not so good at telling me what he actually likes and wants in a home - because he’s never thought about it before, I think. It doesn’t matter, we’ll together figure out what will suit him better than what he has already, no matter what Sid does to it.

 

 **SID [Talking Head - Location: int. new build of office]  
**Geno is…Geno is special. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit in the last couple weeks and I really want him to love his house. I’m going to push everyone, everything, the crew, the budget, myself to the max on this project. I really think I can make it into the home he’d be happy to come back to at the end of every one of his road trips. That’s my goal.

—

With all of the initial filming out of the way, Zhenya was free to spend a few weeks in Miami, lazing about in the sun and starting his summer training program. He planned to stay there until Sid was sufficiently progressed in his work on the house to call him back for a progress check.

His and Anna’s tour of properties were filmed in short bursts here and there, changing clothing a few times to create the illusion of a lot of different property visits over a greater span of time.

The Thursday before he was set to leave for the weekend Zhenya popped by the house to rifle through his storage unit to pack a few items he’d forgotten he needed. He had his mind set on a jacket he liked to wear in Miami, a belt that paired nicely with the jacket, sneakers that cost almost as much as his car, normal things.

The only truck around was Sid’s, the bumper stickers giving it away. Curious as to what he was doing lingering after regular business hours, Zhenya didn’t set immediately around the property for his storage unit but instead headed inside to try to find Sid.

Dot found him first, and danced gleefully around him making strange grunts he assumed were her usual vocalizations until he petted her calm.

“Sid?” he called out loud enough Sid should be able to hear him from most of the of the house without walls as it was.

“Out here.”

Zhenya followed Sid’s voice to the back patio where Sid was working in the makeshift wood shop, measuring out lengths of wood to be marked and cut. He looked as good as always, his customary henley’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows, ball cap low over his brow to keep the setting sun’s rays out of his eyes.

He shuffled a few papers under a board when Zhenya approached and smiled up at him.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Can ask you same. Crew gone, day done.” Zhenya leaned one hip against the table Sid was stationed at.

“Oh, yeah, I’m just getting a head start on tomorrow.” Sid bowed his head, smile fading.

“Have whole summer to do, behind schedule already?” Zhenya poked fun at him, unable to resist catching his tongue between his teeth in jest.

“Ah- no.” Sid laughed hoarsely.

“Come, have drink.” Zhenya gestured over to the loungers that had been displaced to the lawn nearby.

“Oh? You’ve got drinks in that kitchen of yours?” Sid gestured to the gutted hull of what used to be his kitchen he’d just walked through.

“No, but you do.” Zhenya raised his eyebrows in amused challenge back at Sid and waited. Crews like this always had a cooler around for a quick after-a-long-day beer, he was willing to bet this one was no different.

“I actually, uh, I actually do.” Sid said sheepishly and stepped away from his table to draw a blue cooler out from behind a tool chest. He flipped open the lid and surveyed the contents before reaching in and pulling out two bottles of Bud.

“This is the only thing we have, so if you’re not-” Zhenya reached out for it while lowering himself into one of the loungers.

“Is fine.” Zhenya took the bottle from Sid as he came to join him, “Hockey player, shit beer always.”

“That’s right.” Sid settled into the seat beside him, perched on the edge instead of relaxed back the way Zhenya was, “Must be fun, eh? Waking up every day and getting to do what you love the most?”

“Yes. Not distract Sid. Why you here?” he opened his bottle and used it to point to the table of wood while he took a sip.

“I’m just - I don’t know. I didn’t want to go home yet.” Sid opened his own bottle and busied himself with taking a long pull as well. His mouth was distractingly wet and pink.

“Not like home? Not make perfect? Not enough rope, anchor?” Zhenya asked needling.

“Something like that.” Sid didn’t seem like he wanted to share, but this was Zhenya’s house and his rules so he stayed silent until Sid took the hint to elaborate.

“It…it’s dumb. I have Dot and I have my friends but sometimes it’s just too empty at home you know? I don’t have anyone to come home to.” Sid quirked his lips, not a smile, “It just gets a little lonely.” he tried to say it quick, like he was summing it up and it was no big deal, nothing as raw and aching - as Zhenya knew, bone deep - that it was.

Zhenya’s heart pushed him.

“You think I think you dumb?” He sat up and faced Sid, knee to knee. “Why you think we do this?” Zhenya gestured up at the massive expanse of his house. “You think I care what house look like when people I love inside?”

“Yeah,” Sid said softly taking another drink and looking up at the house, his face painted in orange and pink by the setting sun. Zhenya was reminded of the incredibly soft and fond look Sid had had holding baby Scarlett.

“You like Flower family. You want babies?” He found himself asking before he could think better of it. He shouldn’t have asked that, he didn’t know if he could handle knowing definitively that someone this good and handsome and hardworking longed for the same kind of family he did.

Sometimes the universe was cruel, and gave you riches or fame or whatever else but deprived you of something basic everyone else got to have in spades - love, family, children. He didn’t want to dwell on it.

“One day,” Sid met his gaze steadily, unflinching, “Like you. Just hasn’t happened yet.”

Zhenya didn’t know what to say to that. The agreement sat heavy in his gut while his heart hammered in his throat. Sid, golden in the light with his dog nosing around Zhenya’s yard, was like a vision. He held out his bottle for Sid to tap his bottle’s neck against in a toast of commiseration - unwilling to say something ridiculous like suggest they run away together immediately.

They both drank and the silence stretched while Zhenya gathered his wits, and wet his lips with his beer laced tongue.

“I’m have hockey love for every day. You have same, yes? Love build?” He said finally, shifting the conversation to something more safe.

“Yeah, I do.” Sid brightened genuinely at that, eyes creasing in the corners again.

Zhenya’s heart was a traitor.

“You’re big hockey fan too though, I see truck sticker.” He resorted to teasing and fiddled with his bottle, pigtail pulling came maybe _too_ naturally to him.

Sid laughed a delightful and ugly thing. “Oh man, caught out. I’m…I’m a pretty big Pens fan. A hockey nerd you could say I guess. I was actually really excited to get this chance to work on this,” he smiled crookedly again, glowing with happiness, “…With you.”

“You have my jersey?” His grip on his bottle tightened until it was painful. The idea of Sid wearing Zhenya’s name across his shoulders satisfied some deep animal part of him.

This conversation was quickly careening wildly out of his control.

“How do you know I’m not a Lemieux era fan?” Sid asked with an arched eyebrow, but he was flushing again and he wasn’t great at being a tease - or lying at all for that matter. Zhenya snorted and set his bottle down.

It didn’t take long for Sid to crack.

“But I do have one.” Sid looked at him through his lashes again, just like he had the first time they’d met and Zhenya had known in that moment that Sid knew what he’d looked like in that moment, “Of your jerseys I mean.”

This time that look was laden with even more intent that Sid was clearly pretending wasn’t actually there. Zhenya had never been known for his patience however and was done with circling around Sid.

“Maybe you could sign it-”

“Sid.” Zhenya interrupted, completely done. “Shut up.” he took Sid’s bottle out of his hands and put it with his own. Zhenya shifted closer, knocking their knees together, and slipped one hand up to the back of Sid’s neck.

“Tell me if you’re not want,” Zhenya said in a low voice, eyes intent on Sid’s lips.

“No, I want,” Sid breathed into his mouth moving forward the last couple inches himself. It was a hungry first kiss, both of them greedy to acknowledge the energy that simmered between them. They knocked Sid’s hat off entirely in their haste.

They were just on the same wavelength, Zhenya thought. Sid just felt inexplicably _right_.

He needed to be closer, so he pushed Sid back into his lounger and sank into his space. He was ungainly, tall and wide-hipped, but he fit into Sid’s lap perfectly, his breadth out matching Zhenya’s easily.

Sid swallowed a noise, maybe a whimper, closing his hands on Zhenya’s hips. The heat of Sid’s thighs beneath him was overwhelming. It burned through the denim that covered both of their legs and turned his belly molten with desire.

His experiences with men were few, an unfortunate necessity of living as a public figure from an unforgiving nation - but Zhenya barely spared that a thought now, too wrapped up in getting as much of Sid as possible.

He didn’t back down, merely pulled Zhenya closer, biting his lips and grinding up into him to give as good as he got.

“I can’t believe you just climbed into my lap,” Sid said darkly, panting against his mouth and groping his hand up Zhenya’s inner thigh until he was pressing into the bulge he found there.

“You were just give me sex eye until I die,” Zhenya complained, lifting up slightly so Sid could get at his fly, parting it with eager fingers and diving inside to fish out his cock. Zhenya swore, resting his forehead against Sid’s, watching the way Sid’s broad square fist fit around his length. He had strong, tough hands, hardened and callused by carpentry, different but familiar from his tough hockey skin.

“I don’t have sex eyes.” Sid looked at him through his lashes, making Zhenya laugh and pant and laugh again, snapping his hips into Sid’s rhythm and desperately wishing for lube.

“You do again.” He tipped Sid’s head back into another kiss by threading his fingers into the hair at the crown of his head and pulling. Sid groaned deeply into his mouth and arched up into him.

Sid swiped his thumb over the head of Zhenya’s cock, gathering the beaded moisture there, spreading it down and easing the glide of his hand. Zhenya gasped anew. Sid tightened his grip, maybe feeling how close he was, how swollen and ready.

“Sid-” he gasped.

“Yeah,” Sid encouraged, biting at Zhenya’s chin, rucking his own shirt up and out of the way. He focused his bright eyes on Zhenya’s where he was barely keeping his open. “Do it.”

Zhenya came like that, the orgasm pulled out of him by Sid’s hand and words and eyes. His hips stuttered into Sid’s grip and he groaned harshly at the mess he’d made of Sid and his own pants. He pulled Sid’s hand away when he was finished, sensitive and catching his breath he kissed Sid’s hungry mouth again and again.

“You kill me.”

“I hope not,” Sid said into him, strained enough that Zhenya slipped into motion away from Sid’s searching mouth. He spared a kiss for his neck and appreciated the mess of his thick core spattered liberally with come before finally coming to where the crotch of his jeans looked uncomfortably misshapen.

Sid combed gentle fingers through Zhenya’s hair and around his ears.

“What are you doing, c’mon-” Sid tried to coax him back up, but Zhenya would not be dissuaded. He had Sid’s button fly open with a flick of his wrist and with a dirty grin pulled his jeans and underwear entirely down to mid-thigh. He felt Sid shiver beneath him, gooseflesh breaking out across his flanks and adam’s girdle.

His cock was just as fat and perfect as the rest of him, and the noise he made when Zhenya put his mouth to it was indescribable.

“Oh my god.” Sid cupped the back of Zhenya’s head as he circled his fist around the root of him and took Sid into his mouth. He felt Sid gently pull him closer, thighs fighting against the constraints of his clothing pushed down and forgotten there.

Zhenya didn’t have the patience for giving head really, but he liked the way Sid looked down at him and the way he sounded. The way his eyes darkened and focused on his mouth meeting his fist again and again, before closing in a pained kind of ecstasy.

“G- Geno. I’m -” Zhenya gave him a last elaborate swipe of his tongue before pulling back, sliding his fist all the way up and taking over for his aching jaw with his hand to drag Sid into adding to the mess on his belly - which he did with gusto.

Everything was quiet but for their breathing in the aftermath.

“You do that with all your contractors?” Sid asked faintly, flush high over his cheeks, lips kissed an impossible red. Zhenya laughed into his hip and hauled himself up to wedge into the lounger alongside Sid.

Beneath them the furniture groaned a little but held.

“Do that with people I like.” At some point the sun had finished setting and the patio lights had come on, endless strings of fairy lights that crisscrossed the dusky twilight sky above them.

“You like me?” Sid asked sounding stunned, which was ridiculous considering that he was literally covered in their combined come. Zhenya laughed again and sat up to kick off his shoes, pulling off a sock and sacrificing it with a grimace to mop Sid up.

Sid laughed, bright and honking, boneless in the lounger with his clothes rucked to up to his nipples and down to mid thigh. Zhenya thought he was absolutely beautiful. He tossed the sock and ducked to kiss him once more before bullying Sid back into his clothes.

He stole the remaining shoulder real estate, satisfied in making Sid turn to face him, tucked up beneath his chin.

“I really thought...” he trailed off.

“What you think?” Zhenya wasn’t super into this talking-after-orgasm thing but if that was what Sid needed to do he’d oblige, as long as he didn’t need to move any more.

“I just thought you and Anna-”

“Mhm?” Zhenya was amused with Sid, considering what they were doing together, his suspicion was a little late.

“I thought maybe she had a crush on you. Especially after all the texts and stuff.”

“Anya crush?” Zhenya mused, tucking his nose into the hair at Sid’s crown, “So what if she do?” Sid smelled appealingly like sawdust and soap.

“So… usually the people she’s interested in, she gets,” Sid said, matter of fact. Maybe they’d been competitive about more than just their silly show before?

“The two of you seemed…inevitable,” Sid said with a sigh. Zhenya hummed thoughtfully.

“You close friends? Compete for show, but friend?” he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral.

“What? Yeah, of course. We’re good friends, we have good chemistry together.” Sid moved his head like he was trying to look up at Zhenya, but the angle made it impossible.

“But you’re not want,” Zhenya gestured back and forth in the air above them, “With Anya?”

“What like to date _her_?” Sid asked with a laugh into his neck, “Well, I mean, we work together.”

“Not answer. Anya very beautiful, funny, smart,” Zhenya offered.

“You think I’m jealous.” Sid sounded amused at least, “Of her or of you?”

“Maybe both, hearts complicate.”

“You can say that again.” Sid rubbed his hands over his face, “God, what am I doing, fooling around with a client, telling you I thought I didn’t have a chance because you’d fall in love with Anna. I’m a mess.”

“Mess are best,” Zhenya said firmly, but let Sid sit up when he pulled away instead of laughing.

“I’m sorry. I don’t even know why you’re here, am I keeping you from something?”

“Look for clothes,” Zhenya said, not looking forward to it now that it was so dark out and he’d be forced to use his phone as a flashlight the whole time, “Need pack, for Miami.”

“Miami?” Sid asked confusion writ over his face.

“Go stay at beach house for few weeks, train, sleep, sun, come back when you ready for show house.” Zhenya thought it was a pretty practical solution, considering he couldn’t just camp out in Seryozha’s guest bedroom forever, even if his family _was_ going back to Russia for a few months and he’d have the place to himself.

“Oh,” Sid said simply, nodding to himself.

“I’m visit every summer. Usual for short time before leave for home - Russia. Invite you to see, but you busy.” Zhenya said softly, sitting up as well and looking up at the lurking dark mass that was the house.

“Right.” Sid smiled but it didn’t extend all the way to his eyes, “I am busy.”

Zhenya stood, picking up his shoes and pulling off his remaining sock to bundle the other disgusting one into.

“I hope you have fun, in Miami.” Still with that hollow smile.

“Will Sid.” Zhenya said gently, watching him get up as well, adjusting his clothing absently, “You always have chance, you know? Crazy if I’m not want.”

He watched Sid process that while pulling on his discarded cap, he wanted to kiss him again, something for a goodbye, but Sid’s body language was all wrong for that kind of sweetness.

Sid nodded, shoulders inching toward his ears. Zhenya gave Sid another long look, and nodded as well, turning and striding off, barefoot across the cool grass towards his storage container.

—

 **NARRATOR [V.O.]  
**With Anna having to re-calculate what Evgeni wants in a home, Sid has time to deal with setbacks. Construction is never smooth, and while dealing with a historic home, surprises are inevitable. Will he be able to pull off the renovation or will Anna steal the show with a newer build?

—

Miami welcomed him with its muggy and oppressive warmth like it always did. He’d flown out with Seryozha’s family the next day and spent the entire flight thinking about Sid. He didn’t feel great about how they’d left things. When he’d emerged from the storage container with the clothing he’d originally come for, Sid’s truck had been gone.

He’d tried texting a little, but there didn’t seem to really be anything he could say. There was nothing to apologize for that he could understand. The morning of the flight Sid had sent him a photo of Dot begging for the scraps of his breakfast, but didn’t acknowledge Zhenya’s text inquiring if they were good at all.

Maybe that was his answer. Maybe things were fine, business as usual.

Zhenya hated communicating about anything other than hockey. He booted up his phone while waiting for his luggage to be spat onto the conveyor belt. He had a message waiting for him from Max.

**Max:** < Let me know when you get here, we’ll go for dinner >  
  
**Zhenya:** < i’m not sure you’ll want to sit through dinner with me >  
  
**Max:** < What now? >  
  
**Zhenya:** < i slept with Sid >  
  
**Zhenya:** < i think it might be weird now >  
  
**Max:** < never mind about dinner, let’s go straight to drinks >  
  


—

The bar Max picked was one of those starkly Miami confections - entirely open to the elements on a rooftop, all pinks and teals. Too many men were wearing white linen button up shirts unbuttoned to practically their navel - Max was one of them.

Seryozha, who had tagged along after pointedly telling Zhenya to stop sighing so much all the time, looked at Max with thinly veiled amusement.

“Trying to fit in?” He asked, flicking at the collar of the shirt. Max grinned without a trace of shame.

“What’s the saying? When in Miami…?”

“Something like that.”

Max signalled the bartender over and ordered them their usual drinks, buying the first round. They settled with their glasses at a standing table overlooking the beach below, waves crashing audibly even over the pulsing music of the bar. It was then that both Max and Seryozha turned to him with concerned faces.

“You look like you’re about to give me an intervention,” he said grumpily, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed.

“That’s because we _are_ about to give you an intervention,” Seryozha said starkly, “what are you doing with this reality TV show? Every day you come home with hearts in your eyes about two totally different people. It’s distressing.”

“I don’t know,” Zhenya said mournfully, gulping a mouthful of wine without even pausing to really taste it.

“But you know enough to have slept with Sid?” Max asked openly, which was news to Seryozha whose glare snapped to him so quickly Zhenya actually winced.

“It wasn’t in your house or anything!” He said before Sergei could unleash a tirade at him about setting an example and having impressionable youth in the house.

“I should hope not!” He snapped anyway, face ruddy, muttering to himself inaudibly as he took a long pull from his beer.

“It just kind of happened - he’s just…” Zhenya gestured in frustration. He couldn’t explain what happened whenever he saw Sid, his mind went kind of numb with lust and then was whammied with affection and companionship. He couldn’t think of it as anything but that their energies _matched._ Anya’s voice in his head primly reminded him how similar their birth charts were.

“So why are you still so torn up? You’ve made your decision. Sid,” Seryozha said definitively.

“Things with Sid are not so simple, I’m not sure how he’s feeling after - well after we were together.”

“Sounds complicated. So pick Anna then.” Sergei had been hearing this endless handwringing from him about who he was more into for weeks.

“I’m not sure how Anya feels about me,” Zhenya cautioned, “It could just be a very nice friendship that I’m ruining by hitting on her.”

“This isn’t like you, Zhenya.” Max frowned, folding his arms across his chest, “You’re usually decisive when it comes to love. You pursue whatever crush you have at the moment like no one else I’ve ever seen. You’re maybe _too_ confident considering what you look like.” He added looking to Seryozha for confirmation, which he gave with no hesitation.

“Hey!”

“I’m just saying, this whole having two crushes thing is maybe throwing you off your game. You should just go for it, put in more effort like you normally would if you weren’t torn.”

“With who?” Zhenya asked mournfully.

“With both. If one of them is more natural to romance, you have your answer.”

“And you can start now. Isn’t that Anna Kasterova right there?” Seryozha nodded towards the bar, and when Zhenya looked, sure enough there Anya stood with two other beautiful women of similar age grinning and gathering margaritas from the bartender.

“What is she doing here?” Zhenya asked, only to be met with blank stares.

“You’re the one who’s maybe kind of in love with her. Why don’t you find out?” Max turned to Sergei to ask about his new boat, completely done with him and his pitiful love life.

Zhenya downed the rest of his wine and then made his way through the crowd to where Anna and her friends had found a corner to call their own.

Anya spotted him before he got all the way to them, her startled confusion melted into delight - sending his heart rate spiking, and a fluttering in his belly like he was approaching a girl at a junior high dance.

“Zhenya!” She edged around her friends to greet him, one hand coming up to cup the nape of his neck while she brushed a kiss to his cheek, “What are you doing here?”

“I was coming to ask you the same thing. I have a condo here. With the break in the filming schedule I came with friends to vacation.” Anya’s eyes absolutely sparkled at that.

“I’ve done just the same thing!” She explained, introducing him to her friends who were staying with her for a week of relaxation, beach time, and shopping.

“It’s loud and I don’t want to bother you anymore - taking you from your friends.” He stifled Anya’s protests, not completely blind to the looks her friends were giving each other that said they were not expecting or fully appreciating his presence.

“We’ll text,” Anya promised him, “Let’s hang out!”

Zhenya grinned and slipped back into the music and crowd.

His phone, when he checked it later, had two new messages. The first was from Anna.

**Anya:** < Maybe I’ll find you a beachfront property! Beat that Sid! >  
  


The second message was from Sid, the sunset from his back patio, exactly like it’d been when they’d uncomfortably shared a lounger. Zhenya didn’t know what that meant, but knew he wasn’t doing anyone any favours by pulling his punches for this long.

Max was right, he needed to stop whining and start romancing.

—

As much as he liked to protest that the Russian phone tree was not a thing in the NHL and they did not all know each other …it was totally a thing. Which was why he was able to manage with fairly minimal fuss to find Anna’s complete contact information in Miami, including mailing address.

He put his plan into effect immediately.

**Anya:** < You wouldn’t happen to know why I just got the biggest arrangement of roses that I’ve ever seen in my life delivered to my door, would you? >  
  
**Zhenya:** < Just that? >  
  
**Anya:** < Ah, you’re right, there was also a very large stuffed tiger >  
  
**Zhenya:** ☺️  
  
**Anya:** < My friends are all very impressed. >  
  
**Zhenya:** < and you? >  
  
**Anya:** < You’ll have to take me shopping tomorrow >  
  
**Anya:** < Then I’ll decide >  
  


Easy, shopping was fun, and he had money to spare if that’s what she was looking for. He wouldn’t be intimidated by a couple hours of watching her try on expensive shoes.

**Zhenya:** < it’s a date >  
  


It was only a few moments after Anya’s messages that a photo of a gratifyingly large bouquet sitting in the middle of a lot of construction debris came through from Sid.

**Sid:** Geno did you mean to send this???  
  
**Sid:** Is it for me?  
  
**Zhenya:** card says for you doesn’t it?  
  
**Sid:** Yes.  
  
**Zhenya:** for you.  
  


There was nothing for a moment, and then a thought bubble of Sid typing.

**Sid:** Thank you  
  


The bubble returned for a long while but when Sid finally send his next message it was just a single pink heart emoji. Zhenya smiled a small smile at his phone and pocketed it, he had some brainstorming to do.

—

Zhenya met Anya for lunch where she directed, which was what turned out to be an unexpected taco stand. Both of them ordered borderline too many tacos, and then struggled to hold them all _and_ eat them. They walked down the boardwalk of Miami Beach crinkling their taco’s paper wrappers and licking up lines of greasy mayo that dripped down their wrists.

Anya was wearing nothing like he’d ever seen her wearing in Pittsburgh - where she’d been all business casual in form-fitting jeans and blouses with heels - here in by the beach she seemed to relish the sporty vacation look to the fullest in the tiniest pair of shorts Zhenya had maybe ever seen, along with running shoes and a tank top sports bra layering that left her sides exposed to the humid ocean air.

She was tan everywhere he looked. He couldn’t dwell on it for too long in public.

When he’d expected they’d be shopping in high end boutiques for designer handbags and whatever else her heart desired, instead he found himself accompanying her through all the pokey little tourist shops that lined the boardwalk.

They passed stalls of all kinds, filled with knickknacks and keepsakes, cheap and hokey and amazing. They spent the entire afternoon picking through them. Zhenya had always enjoyed the kitschy magnets and flip flop keychains - Anya appeared to have an unexpected and delightful soft spot for ugly postcards.

They looked at driftwood wine bottle holders, and made each other laugh until it ached by modelling ridiculous hats targeted for senior citizens. Anya bought him one that said _beach please!_ and he got her a tote bag that was patterned all over with cute little cats and mice at the beach, lounging with sunglasses and under umbrellas. Its was wonderful just being with her - he was struck again with how down to earth she really was, despite looking like a high fashion model.

They were in the middle of one last shop - more of a flea market kind of stall, with less _MIAMI_ _BEACH_ bottle openers with wooden handles carved like dicks, and more antiques and thrifted odds and ends - when Zhenya froze.

Hanging up on the wall was a large ship’s wheel. It was painted all over with white and blue curly cues that formed into fish, lobster, flowers, and waves. Instantly he knew he needed to buy it. It was perfectly ugly, tacky in all the best ways.

He was in the process of pulling it off the wall when Anya found him.

“What on Earth is that?” she asked with a laugh, reaching out to help him steady it as he pulled it down. It was heavier than it looked and he appreciated her help without too much fuss.

“It’s a gift,” he said, unsure how much he wanted to reveal just yet.

“Hmmm,” Anya hummed, and flagged down the shopkeeper to assist them.

It was only when the wheel was being wrapped up and Zhenya had paid for shipping back to Pittsburgh that she said anything at all.

“He’s going to love it,” she murmured without looking at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Sid. He’s going to love it. I assume you got it for him, I refuse to believe more than one person could like something so terribly ugly.” She didn’t appear to be unhappy with the fact it was so obviously for Sid, nor jealous or worried. She just looked with interest at the fact there was actually a box that it could fit into, and then smiled up at him when she noticed him staring.

“Yeah, I hope he does like it.”

“We text you know,” Anya said as they left the shop, “Sid and I.”

It was bright outside, and Anya slipped her sunglasses out of her hair and onto her face, obscuring half of her expression behind mirrored lenses.

“I know. That’s how you started texting me, remember?” He wasn’t really sure what she was implying. Had Sid told her about everything that happened between them? Why was she indulging him at all in that case? Nothing was clear.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew.”

They parted ways after that, Anya going to a business contact’s dinner and Zhenya invited to some party someone Max knew was throwing.

“We should see each other again. I have a pool,” he found himself saying abruptly, even as Anya was already ducking into a taxi. She laughed and shut the door in his face, waving as the cab pulled away.

He was walking back to his condo, trying to judge how badly he’d sunburned his cheeks and nose before he’d had the shade of his ridiculous cap’s brim when his phone buzzed with a new text.

**Anya:** 👙🏊🏻  
  
**Anya:** < Tuesday? >  
  


—

Zhenya was examining an elaborate ice sculpture that was melting at an alarming rate mid-party when he noticed a presence at his elbow.

“So we meet again.” Anya had changed from the afternoon, into what he associated more with her professional look, a flowing dress, heels. He’d changed as well of course, but just into khakis and a button up, it was summer in Florida, he couldn’t be expected to do better than that when it felt like he was breathing soup.

“What are you doing here?” It was his turn to ask her, considering he was tagging along to a retirement party of one of Max’s friend’s friend - another Russian, old, fat, and rich. Zhenya was often a fun party trick his friends liked to tote along to these kinds of things. It always went like: _‘You know of Zhenya Malkin don’t you? Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins?’_ And then feigned shock and introductions when they didn’t. It all sounded impressive and made his friends look good, so Zhenya usually went along as their little show pony for the night with few complaints.

“I think we have friends in common.” Anya said pointing out where her party was mingling, the retiree shaking hands and slapping backs of old acquaintances heartily.

“All Russians don’t _actually_ know each other,” he pointed out sourly. He smelled a plot, and sure enough when he looked over it was only to catch the barest flash of Max’s shirt disappearing behind a large floral centrepiece.

“No, but the kind of Russians that we would know, who are in Miami right now? They do,” Anya said, turning towards him properly. “You could look less upset about having to spend more time with me Zhenya. I thought things were going pretty well, considering the roses.” It was the first time she’d mentioned the delivery outside of their text messages. She’d spent the entire afternoon being coy and aloof about if they were actually on a date.

“That’s not, I’m not upset at seeing you again. I just think I know a couple of meddling old ladies.” Zhenya aimed a pointed glare at where he knew his friends were hiding from him.

“Matchmaking? You don’t strike me as the type that needs much help in that department,” Anya raised an eyebrow at him, lifting her glass to her lips as she gave him a once over. Zhenya felt himself flush from more than just the drink and the heat at that.

“No?”

“No, I think you’re doing fine on your own,” she said definitively, setting her glass down on a nearby table. “We can let them judge though if you’d like. Come dance with me.” She held out a hand to him and nodded towards the dance floor, which was only moderately populated. Zhenya expected the later it got, and the more the guests drank, the more packed it would get.

“What, now?” He asked letting himself be towed towards their destination.

“When if not now! Come on, don’t tell me you don’t dance,” she laughed at him, turning to face him and take his other hand, walking backwards the rest of the way onto the dance floor.

“I never said that I don’t dance,” Zhenya said, puffing up. He followed her onto the floor, and proceeded to make a fool of himself learning to salsa with her as a slightly tipsy teacher. She quickly kicked off her heels and laughed uproariously whenever they stepped on each other’s feet.

He didn’t know if he’d ever get tired of just goofing around with her. His sides hurt. His heart raced.

“I’m so hot,” she fanned herself, letting him pull the hair that was stuck to her neck and cheek away from her flushed skin.

“You’re the one who wanted to dance,” he reminded her, feeling uncomfortably hot as well, unbuttoning his shirt another button - if he wasn’t careful he’d end up looking like Max.

She watched his hand as it moved on his button, eyes dark and suddenly serious.

“You know…” She paused, tipping her head back to look at him properly, “I know someone with a pool.”

“In Miami? It’d probably be more uncommon to meet someone without access to a pool.” He played dumb, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions about what that meant. Earlier in the day she’d been content to set a date to hang out on another day - but now…

“I was kind of hoping he’d take me back there now - to cool off of course.” She swayed closer to him, hand hot where she placed it on his chest.

“You have a swimsuit on under that?” He asked her, eyes tracing over her flowing dress. He was fairly certain she didn’t even have a bra on under it.

“Do I need one?”

Zhenya had never ditched his friends for a girl quite so abruptly before, but they knew what they were doing when they’d invited him to this knowing she’d be there.

The taxi back to his condo wasn’t a long ride, but it was excruciating, making small talk with the driver about where they were from and what brought them to Miami. He just wanted to be alone _together._ Taking whatever she would give him, even if they just put their feet in the pool and talked about his star sign.

Of course he was banking on more than just that, and was _still_ winded when they slipped into the pool area and Anna divested herself of her dress. She gathered it up from the hem and swept it all the way up and over her head, flicking it onto a lounger with one long fluid move. She then stepped out of her underwear and heels, immediately diving straight into the glowing water. Watching her come up from under the surface, water slicking back her hair and sputtering water from her mouth was like a gut punch.

“Well?” Anya swam to the side of the pool, wet fingers gripping the edge, “Are you getting in?”

Zhenya wasn’t a stupid man. He divested himself of his shirt, kicking off his shoes and toeing off his socks. Her gaze on him never wavered, hot and assessing as she drifted back from the edge of the pool, sinking lower into the water, chin just grazing the surface.

He shucked the rest of his clothes with equal haste and then took a couple quick steps before he could overthink it and launched himself into the deep end of the pool. When he came to the surface, wiping chlorinated water out of his eyes, Anya was laughing and already swimming towards him.

From there it was easy to meet her in the middle, accepting her into his arms as she wrapped her legs around his torso. She was warm all down his front, and he pressed in as close as possible. His toes just brushed the bottom of the pool and they floated low in the water.

Her skin everywhere he touched was smooth and warm. She pulled him in with wet hands on his face, directing the angle in which they met to kiss. The lapping of the water in the filter and his own heartbeat in his ears was all he could hear in that moment, breathing in the scent of the pool and her coconut sunblock.

“Where did you come from, Zhenya?” She asked him quietly, tipping her forehead into his cheek, “men like you aren’t real.”

“I’m real.” he assured her, taking slow strides through the water, towing her towards the wall of the pool, “And I’m not going away.”

“Then kiss me again.”

His back met the side of the pool so he could lean up against it with her in his arms, pushing forward to kiss her again, mouths wet with pool water and saliva. He hitched her up abruptly, making her shriek quietly and grip the edge of the pool as he pressed her closer, kissing her neck and making his way over her shoulders.

The one part of her that appeared not to be tanned was her breasts, nipples still dusky pink and pebbled in the water.

“No nude sunbathing for you?” He teased before pressing his mouth to her sternum, enjoying her warm flesh surrounding him.

“You’re one to talk.” She dipped one leg to tap her heel against his ass as his mouth roamed over her breasts. He was lily white from hips to a few inches above his knees, a by-product of feeling uncomfortably exposed in tiny swimsuits. Zhenya was convinced that all fashionable men who wore them had tiny cocks - or really didn’t mind potentially popping a ball out in public every now and then.

She tipped his head back to kiss him again, a new angle for a moment before she loosened her legs’ grip on him and he let her slide back down into the water proper with him.

“What do you want?” he asked her, swallowing as she pulled back far enough to get a hand on his cock, mostly exploratory, learning the size and shape of him. She came closer again, sliding off to one side to fit her hot core firmly against his hip while keeping one hand on his length. He turned his head to capture her lips in a kiss once more.

“Just you,” she said, grinding against him, hand working up a rhythm in time. So then that was it, he worked on keeping them up in the water, doing his best to prevent them from drowning and she worked on getting them off, kissing him feverishly.

“Anya,” he panted into her mouth, resting their foreheads together as she pulled him closer to orgasm, “Nyusha.” She moaned and jerked against him at that. So he said it in hushed tones again and again until she was pushing him over the edge and he was coming just like that. Squeezing him tight between her legs, hand stripping him expertly, she panted in his ear, worked up on her own.

He sank them a little in the water, exhausted suddenly but pulled Anya closer as she ground against him, her sex feeling a distinctly different kind of wet than the water around them.

He hauled her out of the water then, hushing her protest and setting her bottom right at the edge of the pool, legs spread around his shoulders. He muscled in to set his mouth to her, tongue finding her clit, so swollen already.

He gave her one finger cautiously, rubbing up against her front wall as she pressed her hands to the top of his head and came at last, bent double over him and twitching as he slowed his movements to a stop.

He looked up the length of her body and was suddenly struck by the mirrored position he’d found himself in several days earlier. Sid sated beneath him instead.

Zhenya gripped her thighs and dragged her back into the water with him.

“Good?” He asked, moving them back towards the centre of the pool a mimic of the dance they’d shared earlier in the evening.

“For now,” she agreed slyly and tugged him into another kiss before splashing water into his face and slipping away for him to pursue.

—

 **ANNA [Talking Head - Location: tree lined street]  
**I think Zhenya is a complicated man. Sometimes we make these shows thinking it is very straightforward, you want this so you work on that to achieve it. Sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you want and no one wins. This is a special episode for both Sid and I, not only is the budget bigger, the person we are hoping to help has become a great friend to both of us.

—

Zhenya was scrolling through his phone in the hammock on his balcony when Anya finally appeared. A little puffy from sleep, hair mussed, and dressed in just one of his long sleeve gym tees she must have found in a drawer, she was a shy vision.

“Are you usually an early riser?” She asked in a soft voice, rusty from sleep. Zhenya moved gingerly to the side so she could join him in the hammock, which she did, surprising him by settling herself in, top to tails, her feet by his shoulders, and his by her head.

He couldn’t resist ducking his head and giving her ankle a fond kiss.

“No. Not really,” he sighed, dropping his phone onto his chest. Her legs glistened smoothly stretched out beside him, they had to be at least three quarters of her. He rolled his eyes up to look at the palm trees above and prayed for strength.

“Is something bothering you?” She ran her hand over his shin, almost petting the hair there.

“No. Yes.” he sighed, “I’m just confused. Torn maybe.”

“About what?”

He didn’t want to say, he didn’t want to ruin this prematurely. He knew, however, the longer he took deceiving them both, the more the chances went up that whoever he ultimately chose wouldn’t forgive him for his indiscretion. He sighed instead of answering her, which wasn’t exactly the mature thing to do, but _was_ what he was prepared for.

“Is this about Sid?” She asked after a moment. When he looked at her there was nothing readable on her face. He didn’t know what to say, of course it was about Sid. It was about Sid and her and Zhenya and all of it, swirling together uneasily in his gut.

He hadn’t been able to sleep for long thinking about it all, he’d left her in his bed in the early hours of the morning and retreated to the hammock to think.

“You have a terrible poker face.” She laughed softly, slipping her arm under his leg and tucking her head into the crook of his ankle, using his foot as a pillow, “Tell me.”

“Has Sid told you about - about him and I-”

“About how you sucked his dick? Yeah.” Zhenya glared up at the palm fronds above. She made it sound crass, or simple but it didn’t feel like that in his head.

“So you know it’s not just you.”

“Yes.” Anya said simply, like it didn’t bother her at all. “Zhenya, why are you so worked about this? We aren’t married…none of us are doing something wrong.” She patted his knee.

“I just feel like it could be something more than just sex.”

“With whom?”

“Both of you,” he said darkly. Anya sighed.

“I understand. You have a big heart and maybe casual isn’t so easy for you.”

Zhenya snorted, that seemed to be the thesis for his entire adult life - Zhenya Malkin wanted to commit and no one could assure him they were in it for life as well. Not even the Penguins were a sure bet to keep him in the club forever - look at what happened to Gretzky when he least expected it.

She got out of the hammock, and came to where his head was, ducking down so all he could see was her face and her hair all around.

“I like that about you, Zhenya.” She ran her thumb over his cheek, “I have to go now, but I’ll be in touch, you shouldn’t spend your whole vacation brooding.”

She dipped to kiss him and then was gone from his vision, the door creaking as she passed.

“And for the record?” He turned to see that she’d paused in the threshold to look back at him, “It’s not so easy for me to be casual about you either.”

—

He spent the rest of his time in Miami hanging out with his friends, going to the gym, seeing Anya here and there - and more often than not falling into bed with her, going to the gym again and sending flowers.

He’d done a little recon in his spare time, bothering Anya until she produced Flower’s number to figure out what Sid would enjoy receiving as a token that Zhenya was thinking about him.

Flower then explained that Sid was a bashful sort, and any giant display would mortify him - but similarly, no one had ever really made a fuss over him before and the original delivery had gone over well. He recommended more of the same, flowers that he couldn’t really give away to other people unlike chocolates. Something that he had to just appreciate for its beauty on his own.

He was slyly pleased as well, when Sid sent him photos of the ship’s wheel when it finally arrived. He had hung it up above his fireplace immediately and then called him for the first time, voice dripping with happiness as he asked Zhenya where he’d found it and how it matched perfectly with the rest of his ridiculous decor. He then spent the rest of the day snapping photos of his anchor pillows and rope covered end tables to show Zhenya how on the nose he’d truly been.

So without any more truly brilliant nautical gifts lurking around every corner, Zhenya went about placing more orders for flowers.

He relished getting Sid’s photos of the flowers every time they were delivered to him. Pictures of them around his house, filling up the space, a white rose tucked carefully behind baby Scarlett’s ear, a bouquet being sniffed at by Dot, an arrangement being cradled in his friend Flower’s arms, or being regarded by another exceedingly handsome man who started appearing with regularity in Sid’s photos.

Zhenya tried not to over think the handsome man - but ended up taking the photos to Anna and demanding to know if she knew who he was. Anna just cackled and texted Sid about it.

**Sid:** That’s Kris, he’s my friend and also my assistant.  
  
**Sid:** He’s the interior designer who is working with me on your house.  
  
**Zhenya:** looks dumb   
  
**Sid:** He’ll take the compliment that you think he’s pretty enough to be jealous of.  
  
**Sid:** He does have great hair.  
  
**Zhenya:** not jealous   
  


Sid didn’t believe him, and neither did Anya.

Occasionally Anya took photos of them together to send to Sid - Zhenya coming to terms with the fact that he knew they were spending time together and that everything between the three of them was _casual_.

Of course nothing upset the delicate balance he liked to think he’d achieved like a camera crew showing up on his doorstep. They wanted to film the conversation he and Sid were going to have on the phone where Sid asks him to come back and see the progress to the renovation.

It was scripted so they didn’t even actually have to be on the phone together - which possibly made it even more awkward.

The surreality of the whole situation he was in hit perfectly home while pretending to talk on the phone and ignoring six guys in his living room watching his every move.

—

 **NARRATOR [V.O.]  
**As one of the largest projects Sid has worked on, Evgeni’s house has provided opportunity for creativity as well as plenty of challenges. No detail is too small to spare and that can take some time, but with time comes delays. This time some of the delays are caused by the homeowner going on an unexpected vacation in the middle of construction.

—

His house still looked like it had always looked, from the front that is. The hedges looked suspiciously perky, and maybe those gardens hadn’t been all that well manicured before, so he figured probably Flower had been set free on his property but over all, it was the same.

Inside however, changes were apparent.

Parts of the house were closed off to him, so he would have an authentic reaction to it being finished in another week or so, but right now he was required to shoot a few scenes talking things over with Sid, looking at colour palettes they’d already approved a month ago, making appreciative noises, etc.

He didn’t really know what the final effect would be, with no furniture in the house, but it was already shaping up to be something wonderful. The front entrance way already felt more like him and less like the old lady that had lived there before him with a few tweaks to the banister and a fresh coat of grey paint.

“Geno. You made it!” Sid appeared, followed closely by a camera crew, so Zhenya couldn’t do what he wanted - which was to immediately press him into the wall with kiss after kiss, so instead he just grinned. He drank in the sight of him after so long, as flushed and solid and wonderful as he remembered.

“Yes. Look great.” He gestured to what little he could see of the house and Sid laughed.

“Yeah! Lots of changes. You don’t get to see all of them right now though, follow me.” He lead them through the house and into what used to be the billiards room, showing paint samples and carpet swatches. Exactly what Zhenya had been warned they’d be doing for the day.

When the camera crew finally called it quits and finished with them, packing up all of their lights and cords and battery packs the house was oddly quiet.

“You look good.” Sid said, hands tucked deeply into his pockets, “A little tan.”

“Yes don’t get too much sun, but some.” He didn’t want to stick to small talk however, and reached out for Sid’s hand.

Sid came to him hesitantly at first but then with more ease when they finally touched.

“Miss you, you know?”

“You and Anna looked like you were having a lot of fun though.” Sid smiled, ducking his head like he did. Bashful.

“Yes, have fun. Can still miss.” Zhenya wanted to make Sid look at him properly. He _had_ missed Sid’s luminous eyes.

“We don’t really know each other that well,” Sid said a little sheepishly. Zhenya agreed in some ways, they hadn’t known each other for that long, but sometimes you met people and you just clicked. He felt like they clicked.

“So? Beginning of something good maybe.”

“Yeah,” Sid agreed, happy despite himself maybe, “I don’t usually get so swept up into things like this.”

“But is good, no?” Zhenya wrapped an arm around Sid’s shoulders, shaking him and guiding them out of the billiards room with all the swatches.

“Yeah. It’s good.” Sid agreed, looking up at him and looking away when he got caught.

“Okay. Good. Let’s have dinner.” Zhenya continued to lead them forward, even as Sid started to dig his heels in as they go to the parts of the house that were boarded off. He barred Zhenya’s curious entrance.

“I have work left to do and you can’t go in there.” He was firm, “You’ll ruin it for yourself.”

“Fine, we order in, you finish work. Eat outside, too hot in here. You like Chinese?” It was becoming hot and stuffy in the house as the sun set and beat on the windows. The air conditioning was still switched off so the filming could be done without background humming and it would take a couple hours before it improved the temperature inside.

Sid was finishing up staining something, Zhenya didn’t ask and didn’t pry, just placed an order for an immense amount of Chinese food, raided the contractor stash for more shitty beer and played with Dot.

They mostly talked about hockey as Zhenya lay in the grass tussling with Dot while waiting for the food, and Sid methodically worked. Sid flatteringly noticed the bulk Zhenya was trying to put on, and they had an in-depth conversation about dry land versus on ice training.

Somewhere between retrieving the food from a very confused delivery boy and splitting up the lo-mein while listening to Sid’s good natured griping about the power play, Zhenya realized he hadn’t felt this happy and settled in weeks. It felt like coming home properly.

Pittsburgh had always meant hockey for Zhenya and it was a little weird being here without the season to press him into a schedule. As sad as it felt to admit, hockey was what he always _had._ For Sid to be as invested and passionate as he clearly was, waiting for him in his house with his dog, warmed him straight through.

His heart thumped swollen in his hollow chest.

—

 _Excerpt from_ **_MALKIN TEAM + SASHA (GROUP CHAT)_ ** _Translated from the original Russian_

 **Zhenya  
**is it possible to be totally in love with two people at the same time?

 **Max  
**I THOUGHT YOU AND ANNA JUST SPENT A MONTH FOOLING AROUND TOGETHER

 **Zhenya  
** we did  
but i came back and sid was in my house making it better  
and then we talked about hockey for hours while i played with his dog

 **Tolya  
**gay

 **Dima  
** Sounds like you and Sid have quite a bond.  
Also sounds like you and Anna have a lot in common.  
A dilemma for sure.

 **Max  
** Aren’t you still worried they’re going to be screaming mad at you when they find out you’re effectively dating both of them?  
I mean, kind of a dangerous game Zhenya

 **Tolya  
** they’re both hot  
have a threesome

 **Zhenya  
**they both know that i’m involved with both of them

 **Tolya  
** oh shit!!!  
MY SON!  
Zhenya when did you grow that massive pair of brass balls?

 **Zhenya  
** i’ve always had them of course  
but actually they always knew, they’re close friends

 **Dima  
** And they were willing to share you?  
…interesting friendship

 **Sasha  
**when did this GC start only being about Zhenya’s pathetic love life and not about football picks?

 **Max  
**You should maybe go check the name of the group chat again.

 **Dima  
** I think it’s possible to be in love with more than one person at a time.  
As humans we’re capable of immense love, you don’t run out of love if you have more than one child, you just produce more.  
I think.

 **Max  
** I agree, as someone who has a kid.  
I didn’t know how i was going to make time for her or whatever - or that i was going to end up taking some of my attention from Kate but then when Milana was born nothing mattered any more.  
There was just more love.

 **Sasha  
**whatever you do, decide to do it quickly, for my sanity if nothing else

 **Zhenya  
** i’m going to have to  
the show is only going to keep filming for another week and then there’s no reason for them to stick around

 **Dima  
**Other than to see you.

 **Tolya  
**other than your wang

 **Max  
** I’m sorry we don’t really have any advice for you.  
you’re in a unique situation.

 **Zhenya  
** i know, i had to try  
thank you anyway

 **Tolya  
** I still say you should go for a threesome  
It’s you, so maybe like…a heart threesome or something  
what’s the worst that could happen?  
they’d _still_ break up with you?

 **Dima  
**you know, Tolya has a point

 **Tolya  
** I do?  
holy shit!

_/Sasha has logged off_

_—_

The day before the final walkthrough, Anya met Zhenya at his house. She greeted him with a friendly peck on the cheek, rubbing her thumb at the lipstick mark she left behind.

“You’re looking well. Are you excited to see the home of your dreams?” She asked, grin as bright and beautiful as ever, made up specifically for television. Zhenya looked up at his home and raised his eyebrows at her.

“I’ve seen a little of what Sid has done, I think you’ll need to have found something I didn’t even know I wanted to be able to convince me to sell.”

Anya patted his arm and directed him to leave his car behind and get into hers, she was going to be taking him to the house personally to avoid him googling it ahead of time.

They drove north for quite a while, out of Sewickley entirely, heading towards Cranberry. They came to a sprawling property nestled in Warrendale. Gated and set back from the road substantially, it looked pretty and scenic.

Inside the gate they drove up the lane to where the camera crew’s van was already waiting. They set up their outdoor shots of Anna and Zhenya talking about first impressions and continued forward.

“Four bedrooms, six baths,” Anya listed as they climbed the stairs to the door, “Pause here, look behind you.” She turned him in the direction of the neighbours property. He could see a large house and also another large structure that he couldn’t identify. It looked too plain to be a guest house.

“Your neighbours there are a very nice couple, very friendly. They have a very extensive property with the stable, as you can see. They have ponies, and llamas, chickens, five dogs, several cats - I couldn’t count them all - and are always rescuing more animals. They love it when people come to visit to pet all of them.”

Zhenya couldn’t deny that many animals so close to be petted whenever he felt like it was appealing.

“That’s not all, come.” She threw the front door open and ushered him inside.

Anya took him on a tour of the main floor and bedrooms, beautiful and homey, not too generic or outlandish - no lockers for cabinets. Just whites, creams, and blues - a calm welcoming home. The layout made sense and was open enough for whatever team gathering he may want to throw. The construction was relatively new and up to code - the roof had just been re-done.

She showed him the back of the house, where a small sunroom opened up into a dog run, complete with heated dog house and plumbed in water fountain.

“You would still need a dog sitter for away games, but for home games with the right breed you could let your future pup out here and it would be safe and happy for hours.” she explained as he gaped at it, he didn’t know these things even existed.

“Now for the fun.” Anya assured him, taking him back inside and down one floor to the basement which opened out into an expansive space, fully finished and jaw dropping.

It was a games room, with a full-sized billiards table, a bar, arcade games, and an arched doorway that led to a large theatre space with room for at least ten people. It was amazing.

“There’s more.” Anya said mischievously, luring him around to a doorway he hadn’t seen before and assumed was a utility closet. When she opened the door a cold blast came at him and when she flicked on the lights he gasped behind her.

There, in front of him, was an ice rink.

It wasn’t full sized, but decent, and along one wall was racks and hooks for sticks, gear, storage compartments for pucks and ice maintenance tools.

“The previous owner’s son played hockey and wanted a practice space. This was originally going to be a two tiered garage, but making the ramps required was going to take up too much space so they had this extra room to devote to this.” She flung her arms out at it proudly.

Zhenya barely knew what to say. His head was spinning.

“Come back outside and we’ll discuss a few more details, like price.” She said and lead him back outside of his fantasy house to stand in shock on the paved driveway - he wouldn’t even have to deal with gravel raking any more.

“So you’ll notice we’re quite far from your current home,” Anna stated primly for the cameras, “You may not think the location is ideal, but have you considered that living closer to your practice facility in Cranberry rather than a split between there and Pittsburgh - you can save time in the mornings?” She asked him, and without waiting for a response launched into more.

“You’re not a morning person, as you’ve told me, and your practices mainly occur in the mornings. This way you would have more time to sleep before leaving. You are already awake when you drive to the arena for games - you could build the extra time into your schedule easily.”

Zhenya listened to the rest of her song and dance in a fog. He couldn’t believe this house existed, it was perfect…he hadn’t actually thought she’d present him with something this tempting.

He wondered if the production crew actually spent time renovating not only his home, but another, _second_ home just for the drama of it.

They discussed the price, not that it really mattered that much to him, once you had a multimillion dollar mortgage big numbers just kind of melted into each other.

They did individual opinion talking head filming and wrapped for the day, leaving Zhenya in a fog that lasted through the entire drive back to his former home.

Anya stopped him before he got out of the car, with a hand on his knee.

“Are you okay?”

He looked at her familiar and quickly becoming beloved face. She looked back, reaching with her other hand to cup his cheek.

“I had hoped this would make you happy,” she said with concern, “the house is perfect for you.”

“It is,” he conceded, “It’s just a big decision to make now.”

“Well you still have to see what Sid has put together - I was impressed when I saw it,” she said gently.

“You’ve seen it?”

“Of course. You’re going to love it.” She paused, “I’ll be happy no matter what you choose Zhenya. The point of all of this is for you to walk away happy. Don’t lose sleep. Wait to see what Sid has made for you, then decide.”

Zhenya merely nodded and then got out of her car and into his.

He couldn’t help but feel like this decision was somehow less about homes and more about people. Did he want Anya? Did he want Sid? He had to choose, and the deadline loomed large.

—

 **EVGENI [standing in the hockey-rink room]  
**I’m never expect something like this. Didn’t know this could even exist. Is perfect… Not sure what Sid is make of my house, but will have to be something amazing not to pick this. Has room for so many cars! Could have my own RINK! Practice any time I want - maybe dangerous, maybe too many good thing.

—

The day of the final reveal, Zhenya woke up feeling nervous.

He went to the gym with butterflies in his stomach and they stuck around, increasing every time he caught sight of the clock and time had progressed closer to when he was due at his home for the final walkthrough.

His trainer got frustrated with his distraction and dismissed him early, so he was sent to rattle around Seryozha’s empty home by himself. He could use his pseudo big brother for advice at the moment, but he didn’t want to call and bother him. Besides, the time zones were evil at best and Sergei’s schedule was that of an old man - up early and to bed early as well.

When it finally came time, he got dressed nicely (as instructed by the producer on pain of death), made sure he looked presentably groomed and headed towards his own home.

Once there, as always, the crew was waiting, but so was Sid, joking around with them genially because he’d done this a thousand times before. Zhenya felt like he was going to puke.

“Hey - oh are you okay?” Sid asked him upon catching sight of him as he walked up to them.

“Yes. Just nervous.” he tried to assure Sid, unable to look at his beautiful face for more than a minute.

“Nervous? Why are you nervous? This is your house.” Sid turned to look at it over his shoulder and then back at Zhenya.

“Big decision,” he said simply unable to elaborate exactly what he felt was riding on this.

“Well let’s go take a look and maybe I can make that decision really easy for you,” Sid said with a grin and they set up their opening shots - Sid pointing out the landscaping they’d done before making their way inside.

Some of his furniture was in place inside, and some of it he’d never seen before. This was - Sid had told him - fairly standard. They’d stage the house beautifully for the show and he could choose to buy whatever furniture he wished from them at the end of the day, or they could take everything and he could move all of his things back exactly how it’d been before.

That is, if he chose to keep it.

Inside Sid showed him immediately the updates to the stairwell he’d already seen. the only thing that had changed was now there was a thoughtful table in the foyer for keys and mail that had a bouquet of flowers on it - the flowers were held up in a vase that looked like a hockey glove had been cast out of silver.

They went through his living spaces first, the furniture rearranged to make better use of the space, and all picked thoughtfully with his tastes in mind - the couch was long enough he could fully stretch out and take a nap on it.

In the kitchen everything had been moved around to create better flow. New appliances replaced the older models and even his magnets had been given an upgrade. Little bubbly rounds that had depictions of his custom emojis dotted the fridge - one held in place a drawing that his god daughter had made of him.

“One more thing in here.” Sid got him to stand against the counters and asked if anything felt different. It took a moment, but as Zhenya rested his hands on the counter, he realized it _was_ slightly different.

“They’re raised up an extra inch. Not a lot - for accessibility’s sake, but will make a huge difference for the ergonomics of how _you_ interact with your kitchen while cooking,” Sid said, eyes caring and sweet.

Zhenya was beginning to understand the difference between finding a house that was perfect, and having his house _tailored_ for him. Everything Sid had done was so thoughtful. He’d clearly spent a lot of time considering what would make this custom and irreplaceable.

Zhenya followed him into the den where all of his books had been shelved at last - startling in their number and then the office - heart stopping at what was inside. Where it previously had just been a room for his desk, computer, important papers, and a collection of memorabilia here and there, Sid had transformed the space completely.

It was still his office but now behind his desk were built-in shelves that were lit to lovingly highlight every one of his trophies. Miniatures of his biggest awards - the Calder, the Hart, the Art Ross, his cups - sat in the middle while milestone pucks encased in plexiglass, one of his World Juniors jerseys framed, and photos of himself with important people dotted the rest. There was even a whole section that featured a rack for the beginnings of his meagre stick collection.

When Sid got him to turn around and see what he’d face when he was sitting at his desk it was an entire wall of photographs, framed and hung up in a random collection of sizes and shapes. His parents, his friends, his teammates, animals, sunsets, it looked like someone had literally taken the part of his brain that kept sentimental memories and splashed it on the wall.

Sid had to physically drag him from that room to the rest.

His bedroom had been outfitted in the latest smart technology so he could control his blinds from his bed with a remote, blocking out the light for his all important game day afternoon naps. His ensuite and closet were re-done to create more usable space and less weird mirrored nooks that were probably useful for a fussy old lady who liked to display handbags but not for Zhenya.

“There’s plenty of room for you and another person.” Sid said to him quietly off camera in the closet - he’d taken into account that Zhenya would like to settle down, create a family home.

In his previously Penguins-themed home theatre Zhenya found large beautiful impressionist paintings of himself holding the Stanley cup aloft, waiting for a face-off, and engaged in a full group celly. Each painting was customized to the space it was in, made perfectly for each wall. It made a generic room perfect just for him.

His billiards room had been updated from the last time he’d seen it, his table replaced and the room enlarged to have a seating area and bar, a welcoming hang out space instead of a room _just_ large enough to play billiards in.

The back patio had been transformed as well, more cosmetic, but a new seating area around his banya had also been created - a private place where he and his friends could shoot the shit while between steams.

When Sid escorted him back into the kitchen Anya was waiting, arms crossed over her chest looking happy.

“Did you like it?” She asked promptly. Zhenya could do nothing but nod in a daze.

“It is very good. I like the thoughtful touches you added, Sid,” Anya commented, “And the practical changes too. Would you like to see a new property value estimation now that many of the pre-war parts have been changed?” She asked him, already pushing a sheaf of paper across the counter at him.

The number there was sludge in his mind.

Sid and Anya prattled on for the cameras, discussing who did the best job, reminding him of various elements he could compare and finally they both turned to him, synchronized.

“So now we have to ask you.” Sid began, “are you going to love it?”

“Or list it?” Anna finished.

—

 **NARRATOR [V.O.]  
**Anna showed Evgeni a four-bedroom six-bath sprawling home close to his practice facility for quick morning commutes with an open concept, heated dog run, friendly neighbours, a massive games room, a six car garage, and a miniature hockey rink.

 

Sid was able to completely reverse all of the accessibility modifications that had been done to Evgeni’s existing house, bring it up to modern building code, customize the kitchen, office, and den, upgrade the master with ensuite, expand the existing billiards room, and modify existing landscaping, all under budget.

 

 **SID [Talking Head - Location: office]  
** I think he’s going to love it, there wasn’t honestly that much wrong with his house. He had everything he needed already, friends are close by, he’s already got his own custom Russian steam lodge in the back yard… The longer I spent getting to know him the more I knew that really the thing that he was longing for the most was the sense of _home._ Unfortunately some drywall and spackle doesn’t really create a true home, so I tried to do my best with renovation and working closely with Kris, our senior designer, to create a space that would feel more like home for Geno.

 

 **ANNA [Talking Head - Location: kitchen]  
**I’m going to win. Zhenya can take all of these nice paintings and photos off the walls and take them with him to the perfect home I found him. Easy decision. Sid did all his work and half of mine!

—

Zhenya stood frozen. This was usually the part of the show where Sid and Anna went to gossip about their host family while the poor couple making the decision talked out what they wanted to do. Unfortunately this time it was just him, and talking to himself didn’t make great television so they just wanted him to spit out an answer.

He looked from Sid’s face, to Anya’s and then at the camera.

“I can’t do.” he ducked out of the room immediately, slipping into the back yard and hiding in the new lounge space for his banya. Predictably a few moments later Sid and Anya appeared, cautiously sitting with him.

“Are you okay?” Anya asked him first in Russian.

“Not sure.” He answered in English, “Sorry I’m ruin shoot.” he said mournfully.

“It’s fine, it happens,” Sid said encouragingly, “Sometimes we get owners who are really torn about what to pick too, we usually give them some time to decide - they just say one of them for the show, what they’re leaning towards on instinct and they can have more time to make a final decision.”

“Not about house,” Zhenya laughed, voice thick in his throat. He reached out and took one of each of their hands.

“About you,” he said mournfully.

“Why do you need to pick?” Anya asked him gently after a moment, and he looked up at her concerned face.

“I think I can say that neither of us are going anywhere - just because the show is over doesn’t mean we don’t want to see you,” Sid added, patting the back of his hand.

“Cannot date two people,” he furrowed his brow at that, “too complicate. Like share parents,” he added, “Shared custody,” he said to Anya in Russian and she laughed.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. It would be a little strained,” Sid stroked the back of Zhenya’s hand thoughtfully, “I’m…I’m willing to step back if that’s what you need, what you both need…” he said looking at them, steady and good straight through to his core.

“No. Sid, no.” Anya murmured, grasping his free hand with hers so they were all an unbroken chain, “We don’t do that. Maybe instead of just Zhenya with me, and just Zhenya with you, it’s all three.” she said finally.

Sid looked at her with wide eyes.

“What, seriously?”

“Why not? Zhenya would you want?” she turned to look at him and he stared back uncomprehending.

“What?”

“Do you want us all to be together - like one big three person relationship, you’re with me and you’re with Sid and we’re together as well, keeping each other company without you,” she repeated impatiently in Russian for him. Sid startled at what sounded like her sharp tone.

“I- Yes.” Zhenya couldn’t think of anything else to say to that. He was abruptly far too distracted by the mental image of Anya straddling Sid. Had Tolya been crudely right after all? Was the answer to all of his problems just…a heart threesome?

He and Anya turned to Sid.

“I’m not sure,” he hedged, “it’s a little out of the box.”

“It’s simple. You love Zhenya don’t you?” Anya asked him straightforward as she only was about the most important of matters.

“Yes.” Sid said after a moment of hesitation, squeezing Zhenya’s hand silently.

“So could you love me too?” She smiled for the first time seeming a little unsure of herself, “Because I think it would be easy to love you.”

“Anna - what, come on you’re…you’re my best friend. I already love you. I never thought something like this could happen between us,” he said in a hushed tone that matched the soft look they were giving each other.

“Is happen now,” Zhenya chimed in unhelpfully, but he couldn’t resist, his hopes were sky high, and his mood was jovial at last.

“I think we’ll try,” Anya said diplomatically, “learn as we go on.”

She leaned forward and kissed Zhenya, and then as Zhenya watched, she kissed Sid. They were a vision together - better than his imagination had even supplied.

“Okay, let’s finish,” Zhenya said, springing up, “know what I want to pick, get cameras out of house.”

—

The episode aired as a two hour special - Zhenya didn’t know how they possibly had enough footage to fill up two hours - that served as the season finale of Love It or List It Pittsburgh.

Anya and Sid watched with him, piled onto the giant sofa Sid had picked out for him, Zhenya leaning into Sid’s chest and Anya’s legs tangled with theirs from the opposite side. There was a lot more footage of Anya and Sid than Zhenya had realized - they put in loads more work than he had even seen.

He watched Sid discussing details with crew members, talking to Flower, talking to Kris who Zhenya had finally met weeks after filming had finished. Anya drove a lot from property to property, a camera man as her shadow.

When they got to the ending, the editing was as smooth as anything. There was no way you could tell that they’d taken a half hour break to decide to become a polyamorous triad.

“I still can’t believe I lost,” Anya huffed in Russian as they watched the Zhenya on screen decide to Love It.

“Is that why you’re all the way at that end of the sofa?” Zhenya asked, poking her in the side with a toe.

“You know, I’m learning Russian, but it’d still be nice if you didn’t do that,” Sid said neutrally behind Zhenya.

“Anya still mad about lose, try shit-talk behind you back,” he said tilting his head up while Anya made an outraged noise. Sid pressed a kiss to the top of his head while Anya climbed onto him protesting.

“Wasn’t shit talk!”

“I’m sure,” Sid said dryly, like he didn’t believe a word she said.

Zhenya laughed, sandwiched between the two people that made him the happiest in his house. Now when he said he was going home, he meant it, he was going to them.

**Author's Note:**

> FINAL THOUGHTS:
> 
> 1\. Pool Hygiene  
> PSA PLEASE DON'T HAVE SEX IN PUBLIC POOLS. Geno's Condo board definitely issued a notice that went into every mailbox the next day REMINDING everyone that the pool is shared communal space, and therefore no one should be there unclothed and all bodily fluids have no place in the pool. Geno took a smug photo of it and sent it to Anna and she was mortified. It is still hanging on his fridge in Miami.
> 
> 2\. Tolya and Geno's friends in general  
> I just wanted to try to write some of Geno's friends! These are not any of the actual people in his posse except Gonch, Max and Radulov, however they are all probably y'know characterized not like how they actually are. Tolya and Dima are completely fictional.
> 
> 3\. The excessive research about Geno's house for literally no reason because none of it made it to the actual fic for sake of brevity (LOL 23K OF BREVITY)  
> You don't understand. There was so much research. There were satellite images and youtube videos from 2010 with bad music and pdfs about Sewickley Heights Estate building & community codes. Did i use any of it? No. RIP
> 
> 4\. How many episodes of love it or list it I ended up watching for 'research'  
> TOO MANY.
> 
> 5\. Formatting  
> It sucked to do, but it was WORTH IT!
> 
> 6.Beta thanks  
> Thanks beta! You know who you are! You're a rockstar!


End file.
